Pokemon Quest
by nld200xy
Summary: A young boy named Jacob has dreamed of being a Pokemon trainer but has never been allowed to do so. One day, a strange egg appears in his room and takes him on the journey he has always wanted.
1. Chapter 1

Pokemon Quest

Disclaimer: I do not own any of the Pokemon used in this or any of the characters from the games who might make an appearance in this. By the way, this takes place in a completely made-up continent, meaning I'm not using any of the locations from the games.

We start off our story in a small town known as Redwood. Here, people lived peacefully with Pokemon. What's a Pokemon?

A Pokemon is a creature that people capture inside little balls that can fit into one's pocket. They were often used as partners for humans. Some kept them as simple pets while others would use them for battle or contests, in which Pokemon would show off their good looks and talents.

I can't describe what Pokemon looked like without listing all of them, and there are over 450 in existence, each with a different appearance. Pokemon are also split into classes, most representing an element of some kind. Some had the powers of the trees. These were known as plant types. Others had the power of water, and were rightfully called water types. Some could fire flames from their bodies and were known as fire types. The list goes on but that's the basic gist of it.

People who captured Pokemon were known as trainers. These people often built up their Pokemon's stats to make them worthy of showing off to the public. Oftentimes, trainers would have them battle with other trainers, and Pokemon also needed strength to help their trainers capture more. See, Pokemon couldn't be caught without being weakened first or intentionally joining the trainer.

Now that I've gotten that out of the way, it's time to introduce our main character, Jacob. He was a young boy with short brown hair, a simple build, green eyes and the fashion sense of a typical 14-year-old. Now, he had always been interested in Pokemon and wished he could become a trainer like others, but alas, his mother was overprotective and would not allow him to do so.

Jacob lived a normal life, at least as normal as it could get. He had a few friends in Redwood and spent a lot of his time studying Pokemon and learning about them. He felt that there was nothing he didn't know about Pokemon.

"Please, mom!" he begged one day as his mother just rolled her eyes and replied, "I'm sorry, but I do not wish for you to pursue the life your father took."

"But why not?" Jacob remarked as his mother froze, eyes wide open and tears running down her face.

See, Jacob's father, as mentioned, was a Pokemon trainer and had left his family to pursue such a life when Jacob was 5, promising he would return in a little over a year. As the years passed by, Jacob's father never returned from his journey and for a few weeks, the mother kept telling herself that he was just a little late.

But months past and there was still no sign of Jacob's father, but one day a bird-like Pokemon known as Staraptor flew in through the window with a letter. The letter told of how this Staraptor belonged to Jacob's father and how the boy's father had discovered an ancient tomb which was believed to hold one of the world's greatest Pokemon, one told of in legends named Giratina. Apparently, he'd sent his Staraptor with the letter to inform his family that if he didn't return, it would mean that his life had been claimed by the beast.

This was the very reason Jacob's mother couldn't allow her son to wander off into the world as a trainer. She refused to allow him to befall the same fate.

"Go to bed," she said as Jacob snapped, "Mom, it's only 6:00! I'm not a baby, you know!"

"DON'T TALK BACK TO ME!!!!" his mother retorted as Jacob grunted, walking up the stairs to his room and muttering under his breath.

He lay on his bed looking out the window and sighed. How he wished he could go out and see the world. His normal life was just… you know… normal. There was nothing more to it. He lived like every normal kid lived and he didn't like that. He wanted to go off and see the world.

Suddenly, something really strange happened. A bright light came out of nowhere, almost blinding Jacob as he quickly closed his blinds and backed away from the window, panting heavily. After a few seconds, he opened the blinds again and sighed with relief now that the bright light was gone, but when he turned to his bed he saw a very strange sight.

A large egg had appeared on his bed. What could this mean? Then the answer just came to Jacob.

The boy pulled out a guide to Pokemon and flipped through the pages when he found what he was looking for and smiled. Just as he had figured, this was a Pokemon egg. Jacob was too excited to care where it had come from or how it got there in the first place. This seemed like a sign from God that he was to become a Pokemon trainer. But first he would have to hatch the egg, and he couldn't let his mother know he was doing it.

He searched high and low for a place in his room where he could hide it. He perked up when he saw his closet. That seemed perfect. It was so messy in there that his mother wouldn't dare look in it. He would keep the egg in there and cover it with articles of clothing to keep it warm. This was perfect.

For 3 weeks, the egg remained in Jacob's closet, his mother none the wiser. Knowing that he would have to be there for when the egg hatched, Jacob left his room less but still left occasionally to attend to some of his hobbies so no one would be suspicious. He had also bought himself a few Pokeballs, which were the type of balls used to capture Pokemon. If he was to leave on his journey the second this Pokemon hatched, he'd need Pokeballs to capture more along with keeping his first one inside a Pokeball as well.

One day, he was watching the egg with his hands on his chin thinking, 'When is it going to hatch already? This is taking too long.'

Then he heard the doorknob turning as he quickly closed the closet door and smiled innocently when his mother entered the room asking, "Jacob, can you head on to the grocery store and buy some milk?"

"Sure, Mom," Jacob replied as his mother handed him money for the milk and he headed out the door.

His mother sighed with a smile and thought, 'I'm so glad he decided to give up on that Pokemon training nonsense of his.'

But as Jacob was off to the store, something odd happened. Inside the boy's closet, the egg started to twitch before cracks appeared. Then it happened. The egg cracked in half as a small creature sat in there yawning. It was a dog-like creature with a blue tail, black ears and legs along with a black stripe across its eyes. The rest of its body was covered in blue fur and its legs and arms were long and slender. It also had 2 white patched on its wrists.

When it saw the dark space it had been born in, it looked around wondering where it was. Well, who does expect to be born in a closet?

When the Pokemon tried to stand up, it lost its balance and fell forward, its head knocking the closet door open. The creature got up, rubbing its head and lets down small tears, a whimpering sound escaping its mouth. But before it could turn into loud crying, the Pokemon's eyes perked up when it saw a beautiful room with light entering the area. Unlike the dark closet, this was refreshing.

The creature curiously looked around the room and marveled at the sight of things like a computer, posters and a nice comfortable bed. Then it saw an opening in the wall that led outside.

The creature skipped merrily towards it but ended up bumping its nose against a strange force field, better known as a window. The Pokemon let down tears, but then noticed a handle in front of the window. The creature touched it, unintentionally pulling on it and opening the window as its eyes sparkled and it jumped out landing on its bottom.

Confused as to where it was, the creature looked back and forth before wandering off into town. When it saw all the people surrounding it, it started to tremble with fear.

"Hello!" a little girl said to it, waving with a happy expression as the infant Pokemon ran away from her. It seemed to have a fear of humans.

Jacob had just arrived home with the milk as he placed it in the fridge and ran up to his room only to find a shocking sight. His closet was wide open and his window was open, but worst of all, he saw egg shells inside of his closet.

"Oh no, it hatched without me!" he shouted as he bolted towards the door, but just as he was about to leave, his mother held his shoulder and said, "Jacob, I'd like to thank you for buying the milk for me."

"Oh," Jacob replied, "It was nothing, mom! I just realized I need to be somewhere! Bye!"

He sped out the door and away from the house as his mother sighed, shaking her head. Kids had such strange habits.

As the baby Pokemon continued to walk through town, it looked all around as if it was looking for someone. After so long of searching, it sat down on its rump and let down tears. It was only natural. A baby shouldn't have been wandering around on its own.

At this moment, two suspicious-looking people had heard this sound and followed it, hiding behind a bush and watching the small Pokemon.

"Do you see that?" asked a boy with red hair, a scar across his left eye, a black T-shirt and black wristbands.

"Yes, Donavan, I do," replied a girl with long blue hair, a somewhat revealing top and a tattoo on her shoulder.

The boy, known as Donavan, smirked and said, "That's a very rare Pokemon. The boss is going to love it, Jenna."

The girl, known as Jenna, nodded with a grin and said, "Yes, that particular one is just what Team Advent needs."

Since this Pokemon was the baby, the 2 figured it would be easy to capture, so Donavan pulled out a net and snuck up behind the creature swinging it downwards and trapping the Pokemon within it.

At this moment, Jacob was walking by and saw the man with a Pokemon trapped in a net, laughing evilly. He ran over and shouted, "WHAT ARE YOU DOING TO THAT POKEMON!!!!??"

Jenna grimaced and asked, "Donavan, who is that?" as the man simply blinked, scratched his head and said, "I have no idea."

"YOU HEARD ME!!!" Jacob snapped, "PUT THAT POKEMON DOWN!!! DON'T YOU KNOW ABDUCTION IS CRUEL!!!??"

"Uh… I wasn't abducting it, little boy," Donavan replied nervously, "I was just… uh…"

"Save your breath," Jenna remarked, "He's just a kid. There's no way he can do anything to us, anyway."

Jacob charged at the couple only to be sent reeling into a wall. The small Pokemon finally stopped crying to notice the boy who had tried to save him. Its eyes sparkled as if it knew Jacob. Then its eyes glowed violet as its hand formed a claw made of dark energy, slashing the net's material open.

Donavan looked at this with fear as Jenna grimace, asking, "What is that doing out of the net!?"

But before the girl could scold Donavan, the small Pokemon leapt at them with its dark claw forming again, slashing them both across the face.

Donavan trembled with fear as blood ran down his cheek while Jenna simply grimaced shouting, "We'll be back!" the two taking off into the distance.

Jacob hadn't lost consciousness from the collision with the wall, so he saw the whole thing. His eyes went wide as the creature ran over to him.

Jacob trembled asking, "What are you going to do to me?" the creature licking his face.

Jacob laughed and tried to push the Pokemon off of him, and after the licking assault ended, Jacob sat down next to the Pokemon and asked, "Are you the Pokemon from the egg in my closet?"

The Pokemon simply nodded, Jacob feeling very happy. He then pulled out a Pokeball from his pocket and asked, "Are you ready to be my partner?"

The Pokemon trembled at the sight of the ball as Jacob simply put it away. He was familiar with the fact that some Pokemon preferred to stay out of their Pokeballs.

He sighed and said, "Well, I can't hide you from mom if you won't go into your Pokeball. In that case, I'll just leave on my journey right now. That way she can't stop me."

But before doing so, Jacob had to gather supplies for his journey. He prepared himself a backpack with the essentials, his guidebook to Pokemon and a good set of clothes. Of course he also brought camping equipment. Luckily, he had managed to avoid his mother seeing him but nevertheless, he still felt obligated to at least let her know where he was.

The boy sighed and pulled out a pen and paper writing a note that told of how he was starting his journey. He sighed and headed out the door and soon he was on the road.

"Alright, before we start getting into serious territory," Jacob said, pulling out his guidebook, "I must know who you are."

He scrolled through the pages before coming across the picture of his new Pokemon as his eyes went wide. He couldn't believe that the Pokemon he had received completely by chance was a Riolu. See, Riolu were quite rare and very powerful. He felt like the luckiest person on Earth.

He simply smiled at his new partner as the two ventured off into unknown territory, and thus the journey had begun.


	2. Chapter 2

Pokemon Quest

Jacob and Riolu traveled along the road on their way to… come to think of it, they had no actual idea where they were going. All Jacob wanted to do was travel the land. He didn't really care about gym battles or contests. However, there was one thing he did care about.

"We need to catch more Pokemon," Jacob said as Riolu looked up at him with a confused look. Then that look turned to sadness as if Riolu was accusing his owner of slavery.

"Cheer up," the boy said kneeling down and petting his companion, "We're just going to add another member to the team. The more the merrier, right?"

Riolu nodded in understanding. The boy did have a point there. Sure, Riolu was still an infant, but Pokemon were able to mature fairly quickly compared to humans. After all, Riolu had learned to walk in less than 3 minutes.

The two ventured through an open field with a path leading them forward when Jacob spotted something by the grass. His eyes sparkled when he saw it: A Starly picking at dirt looking for worms.

'I'm gonna catch a Starly first just like my dad did,' the boy thought as he pointed towards Starly shouting, "RIOLU, USE SHADOW CLAW!!!"

Riolu ran towards the bird Pokemon with its paw back, but surprisingly, nothing happened and it simply whacked the bird with a simple paw punch, the Starly taking off into the distance.

"What happened?" Jacob asked running over to his partner with a look of concern, "Why didn't you use Shadow Claw? You used it on those two criminals this morning."

Riolu seemed to be just as confused as Jacob was as he stood there scratching his head. Suddenly, the boy heard the sound of a man calling for help. He and Riolu nodded at each other, knowing what they had to do and ran to where the cry for help was coming from.

Jacob saw a middle-aged man dressed up like a Scientist backed away in a corner, two Pokemon glaring at him and a briefcase out of the man's reach. The two attacking Pokemon were mouse-like Pokemon called Nidorino and Nidorina. The pink one, Nidorino, was a male and the light-blue one, Nidorina was female.

"Alright, let's go help that man!" Jacob exclaimed as Riolu nodded charging at the two, Jacob shouting, "USE SHADOW CLAW!!!"

But as Riolu leapt towards them, he was once again unable to create that dark energy claw from earlier and managed to deal minor damage from smacking his paw into the side of Nidorino's face.

Now to tick off Nidorino was probably a bigger mistake than making Nidorina mad as the male had a horn while the female didn't. The angry rat Pokemon charged towards Riolu ramming his horn into the infant as the creature flew into Jacob, a small bleeding spot on its belly.

"I don't get it," Jacob said, "but you may as well use your other attacks… unfortunately, I have no idea what those are."

The boy decided to consult the guidebook and he needed to hurry. That Nidorino was not going to let Riolu escape. He intended to kill the meddlesome Pokemon.

Jacob grimaced when he saw Riolu's page and shouted, "I forgot, this stupid thing only tells me names and personality traits, not attacks!"

The man was still backed away in a corner, the Nidorina growling at him as Jacob had to think fast, then he remembered a common attack that most mammal Pokemon had early in their development.

"RIOLU, USE QUICK ATTACK!!!" he snapped as Riolu smiled and dodged Nidorino's incoming horn, making a quick U-turn and ramming his elbow into the rat's side.

Nidorino skidded against the ground groaning in pain as Jacob sighed with relief, finally finding an attack that he knew Riolu could use. But it wasn't over yet. Next, he had to take care of Nidorina.

"RIOLU, USE QUICK ATTACK ON THE OTHER ONE!!!" he spat as Riolu nodded and charged towards the hornless rat and rammed his elbow into her knocking her to the side.

The adult got to his feet quickly as he dove for his briefcase, picking it up and pulling a Pokeball out of it. Jacob blinked and asked, "What are you doing?"

"Come on, kid," the man remarked, "Unless that Riolu is really strong, there's no way a simple quick attack would keep those two down."

The man was right. Jacob's eyes went wide as Nidorino and Nidorina climbed back to their feet, their eyes red with fury. The middle-aged man hurled the Pokeball he had drawn from his briefcase as a monkey with a burning stub for a tail emerged from it.

"Do my eyes deceive me?" Jacob asked with sparkling eyes, "That's a Chimchar!"

"Stand back, kid," the adult said with a grin, "I can handle this."

That said, he gave the monkey Pokemon a command and Chimchar obeyed, shooting small fireballs at the two rat Pokemon scorching them as they ran away in fear.

The man sighed and turned to Jacob saying, "Thanks, kid."

Jacob's eyes sparkled as he asked, "Where did you get that Chimchar?" the man smiling and stating, "I'm a professor. The Pokemon in this briefcase are for new trainers."

Jacob couldn't believe what he was hearing. He had just helped out a professor of all people. This was truly one of the happiest moments in his life.

The professor introduced himself as Moro and led Jacob to the town he lived in, Pinetown. There, Jacob was led to Professor Moro's laboratory where various Pokemon-related tests were being performed.

"I can't believe I'm in this place," Jacob squealed fan boyishly while the professor said, "I'll explain why you're here soon enough. I'm expecting someone today, though, so you'll have to wait for her to arrive."

Jacob was too entranced with all the technology to mind that. He could wait all day if he had to. To be in a Pokemon lab was a dream come true for him.

The professor eyed Riolu and asked, "Say, kid, how did you come across such a rare Pokemon?"

Jacob snapped out of his trance and realized that if he told Moro the truth, the man would think he was crazy. So he thought up the most logical explanation he could.

"He's a gift from a friend," Jacob stated as Moro nodded in understanding saying, "You're quite fortunate, but it seems you are a beginner to Pokemon training. Don't you know that Riolu can't use Shadow Claw?"

Jacob's eyes went wide when he heard this. How could that possibly be true? He saw Riolu use it earlier. How strange…

But before he could go further into this, a young girl with green hair and blue eyes entered the lab looking rather cheerful. Moro smiled and said, "Nice to see you, Roxanne. I didn't think you'd show up so early."

"Oh, you know I want my own Pokemon really badly!" Roxanne squealed as Moro laughed and said, "Jacob, this is Roxanne. She's the daughter of a great friend of mine. She's starting her Pokemon journey today?"

Riolu hugged Jacob's leg trembling clearly scared of Roxanne for some reason. It must have been her hyperactive attitude.

"OH MY GOD!!!" Roxanne shouted, eyes sparkling while she stared happily at the small infant, "Is that really a Riolu? I love Riolu!"

Riolu let down tears as Jacob pet his head and said, "It's okay, Riolu. She won't hurt you."

Moro cleared his throat as Roxanne shook Jacob's hand. The two introduced themselves and Moro sighed with relief, emptying out his briefcase and placing 3 Pokeballs onto stands. One had a picture of a leaf on it, another had a picture of a flame and the last one had a picture of a water droplet.

"Alright, Roxanne," Moro said, "Take your pick."

The girl looked at the Pokeballs already knowing which Pokemon was in each. The one with the plant on it carried a turtle Pokemon called Turtwig. The one with the flame had Chimchar. The one with the droplet had a penguin Pokemon called Piplup.

"Oh, it's so hard to choose!" Roxanne whined, "They're all so cute!"

Riolu hid his face in Jacob's legs as the boy sighed, patting his head reassuringly. This Roxanne girl was pretty scary, after all.

But after a while, the girl ended up choosing Turtwig. She seemed to have a fascination for turtles.

She released the turtle Pokemon from its Pokeball and the two got off to a fairly bad start. See, Turtwig weren't exactly the most active of Pokemon. They were actually quite mellow, and Roxanne was… well… hyper.

The turtle groaned in agony while Roxanne snuggled its cheek up against hers shouting, "I'm gonna make you nice and pretty so we can win contests together!"

"So you're into contests," Jacob stated as Roxanne nodded saying, "All my life, I've dreamed of winning at least one contest medal."

Moro smiled and said, "That's a good goal. By the way, you need some things before you begin your journey with Turtwig."

Moro handed Roxanne 5 Pokeballs and portable computer called a Pokedex. A Pokedex was basically an electronic guide that contained data on most Pokemon, kind of like a more informative version of Jacob's guidebook.

Roxanne left happily while Moro turned to Jacob and said, "For helping me rid of those Pokemon earlier, I feel it's only fair that I grant you one of my two remaining Pokemon."

Jacob was really happy to hear this and thought of what would make a good friend for Riolu. Turtwig was a good choice, but he was gone now, so the boy had to pick someone different.

Then it hit Jacob. What was the one Pokemon he'd heard an attack name for? The answer was obvious.

"I'm gonna go with Chimchar," Jacob stated, releasing the monkey who looked up at Moro who stated, "Chimchar, this is your new owner. Please get along with him."

The monkey nodded and leapt into Jacob's arms for a quick hug, Riolu feeling a bit more relieved. At least the monkey seemed like better company then the cuteness-obsessed psychopath he'd met a couple of minutes ago.

Moro thought hard and said, "You seem to have some potential. Why don't you try for the ultimate Pokemon challenge?"

Jacob blinked with a confused look as the professor explained, "Most trainers strive for the ultimate Pokemon challenge. This requires you to earn 8 badges from the various gyms scattered throughout the continent. Once you have those, you will be able to face other trainers in a tournament to decide who the best of the best is."

Jacob thought hard about this. He'd never really shown any interest in this. Then it came to him, what if he ended up the champion? His mom would most likely regret ever preventing him from being a trainer and he would gain satisfaction.

And so he was off on his journey now with an actual goal of what he was to do, Chimchar in his pocket and Riolu by his side. Things were going well for him now.

We now take you to a dark and damp city where there were many factories letting out excess waste. The entire sky was polluted and shrouded in a dark storm cloud and in the middle of this city was a base simply labeled with a giant A for Advent.

This was the headquarters for Team Advent, a criminal organization sworn to capturing powerful Pokemon for the boss' world-domination plan. At this moment, Donavan and Jenna were in front of their boss' desk.

The big man himself was a man named Varen. He ruled with an iron fist and could not tolerate failure.

"You miserable lowlifes!" he snapped at the two, "As punishment for your failure, you are to spend 5 hours in the torture chamber where you will be whipped for your mistake!"

"Sir, hear me out!" Jenna shouted as Donavan asked, "Why can't I say it?" Jenna smacking him upside the head.

"Do you understand how hard it is to capture Pokemon without any allies to help us?" The girl asked as Varen thought about this and said, "You're absolutely right. There's no way you could stand up to a Pokemon without Pokemon of your own. How foolish of me."

Jenna sighed with relief as she had just prevented them from being punished. Varen brought out two Pokeballs and said, "I don't really trust you two with highly advanced Pokemon, so I'm only giving you a little firepower. Nevertheless, they should prove most useful."

The two balls opened up revealing a crab Pokemon known as Corpish for Donavan and a cat with dark fur and a tail in a spiral known as Glameow for Jenna. Now that the two had Pokemon of their own, they would surely be more threatening.


	3. Chapter 3

Pokemon Quest

Jacob and Riolu were back on the road heading towards the next town simply known as Rowerberg. There, they would face the first gym leader and take the first step to becoming true champions.

As they carried on, they soon found themselves in a dark forest. Here, the bushes had glowing yellow eyes within them. Riolu started to tremble and hugged Jacob's leg as the boy pet his head and said, "Don't be afraid, Riolu. We'll be fine."

As they continued, they noticed a lot of bug types lying around. There were chrysalis Pokemon known as Metapod, caterpillars called Weedle, worms referred to as Wurmple and so much more.

Jacob had to admit, he wasn't scared like Riolu was, but he was a little disappointed. "I was hoping to see a Heracross among them," he said with a sigh.

Heracross was like a Hercules beetle. Jacob always thought those were so cool and he wanted one very badly.

Suddenly, he heard a noise and peered through a bush as he noticed a young girl face-to-face with a bee Pokemon called Beedrill. Jacob watched this as Riolu trembled, hoping the girl was okay.

This girl had short brown hair and red eyes and looked very determined as she whipped out a Pokeball and threw it shouting, "GO HOOTHOOT!!!"

Out of the Pokeball came an owl Pokemon simply known as Hoothoot. Since it was a bird type, it had a good advantage of the bug type, Beedrill.

"Now use peck!" the girl shouted as the owl nodded swooping towards Beedrill, but the insect dodged to the side and stabbed the two stingers on its arms into Hoothoot's back, putting two bleeding spots on the owl Pokemon.

Jacob started to worry as the girl seemed perfectly confident. She seemed to mouth something without letting the words out as Hoothoot saw the lip movements and nodded.

Its eyes glowed as Beedrill seemed to stop in place. This was an attack known as Confusion and it sent a great pain through Beedrill's body as Hoothoot took full advantage of this delivering a well-aimed peck attack, Beedrill falling to the ground in a heap.

"Pokeball, go!" the girl shouted as she threw a Pokeball at the fallen insect and captured it. The Pokeball vibrated for a few seconds before stopping completely and the girl picked it up with a triumphant grin on her face. She had successfully captured the Beedrill.

"Wow, that was truly amazing," Jacob said not realizing he'd said it out loud.

Riolu started to panic as the girl turned to them, a suspicious look on her face as she snapped, "WHO'S THERE!!!!??"

Jacob emerged from the bush as the girl pulled out a pocket knife and leapt atop the boy, holding the blade up to his neck with a grimace on her face. Jacob's eyes widened as Riolu's eyes glowed violet. Then, just like before with the Team Advent members, his hand created a dark claw made of energy as he leapt at the girl slashing towards the knife and knocking it into a tree.

The girl saw this, blinked and said, "No way…" before backing down.

Soon enough, all was cleared up. Jacob introduced himself and explained that he was simply heading towards the next town to face the gym leader and earn himself a badge. The girl introduced herself as Izy and the two decided to camp out together under the stars when night finally came. Riolu was still a little frightened of her but had calmed down a little bit.

"So," Izy asked, "how did your Riolu use Shadow Claw? I didn't think that was possible."

"That's the odd thing about it," Jacob said, Riolu now asleep in a small sleeping bag Jacob had bought for him, "Riolu's managed to use it twice today, but he seems to have no control over it. I thought maybe I had imagined it the first time, but seeing him use it again and knowing that you saw it too proves that he can do it. He just doesn't seem to know that he can."

Izy had to admit, this was all very complicated, but in a way, she understood. She sighed, setting up a sleeping bag for herself and said, "Sorry about trying to cut off your head earlier."

Jacob laughed nervously and said, "Please, stop apologizing," then something came to his mind as he asked, "Why are you traveling?"

"If you must know, I plan to be a great contest coordinator," Izy replied, Jacob quite surprised by this. With her skill, she could very well be the champion of the Ultimate Pokemon Challenge and beyond.

"You might need some cuter Pokemon for that," Jacob stated as Izy sighed, "I did consider that, but I'll be honest, I'd rather not be seen with cute Pokemon in my team. Also, I only want Pokemon who can fly."

This was also a surprise so of course, Jacob asked why. Izy explained her theory of the whole thing, how a Pokemon with flying abilities would show far more grace than one who stayed close to the ground most of the time. She believed that since pilots could look so good while flying planes, flying Pokemon may as well look beautiful while airborne.

"After tonight, I think I'm gonna go my separate way again," Izy said as Jacob nodded in understanding saying, "Well, goodnight."

As the two slept, they failed to notice a certain pair of strangers lurking around through the night with evil looks in their eyes. Upon seeing Riolu asleep, they figured this was the perfect time.

Donavan held up a net and was just about to nab it when Jenna held his arm back and whispered, "I feel a little bad about this. I think we should capture it using our new Pokemon."

Donavan felt a little disappointed to give up such an easy capture, but she did have a point. Why would they have the new Pokemon if they never planned to use them?

And so morning came as Jacob stretched his arms turning to Riolu who was still fast asleep, smiling at his partner. Riolu was just adorable when asleep. Izy awoke as well, yawning heavily and picked up her bag.

"You're going already?" Jacob asked as Izy nodded and said, "It was nice meeting you, but I must be on my way."

Suddenly, two familiar faces climbed out of the bush with evil grins on their faces. Jacob recognized these two as the thieves who tried to steal Riolu the other day.

"It's you two again!" he spat as Jenna sighed, "Please, we have names, you punk child."

"Who are these people?" Izy asked as Jacob shrugged. Jenna was a little frustrated until she realized that she hadn't even introduced herself last time, so of course the boy didn't know.

"I am Donavan," the man of the duo replied as Jenna grinned saying, "I am Jenna. You'd better remember our names because we are top members of Team Advent!"

Upon hearing the mentioning of that name, Izy's eyes went wide. Jacob looked at her with curiosity. Did she know this Team Advent?

"Who's Team Advent?" Jacob asked as Izy covered his mouth and said, "Ignore him, he's crazy!"

Then she glared at him and whispered, "Team Advent is a group of criminals bent on capturing strong Pokemon so their mysterious boss can take over the world."

She then glared at the two and shouted, "If you want Jacob, you have to go through me!"

Jenna twitched in response to this. Who was this little brat to step in her way? Nevertheless, she couldn't turn down a challenge, so she grinned wickedly and drew her Pokeball calling out Glameow.

Donavan was about to join in when Jacob snapped, "Hey, two against one is unfair!"

"He's right, you know," Donavan said, scratching the back of his head as Jenna rolled her eyes saying, "Fine, you can fight Donavan while I fight the girl."

Neil saw that Riolu was still fast asleep but still felt confident as he had Chimchar… that was until Donavan hurled his Pokeball towards the ground summoning Corpish. This was bad. Corpish was a water type, which had a huge advantage over fire types.

But just as he was about to make the only choice possible, Riolu woke up and smacked his lips, rubbing his little eyes. He looked over and panicked when he saw his master face-to-face with one of the thieves.

Seeing Donavan filled him up with hatred as his eyes glowed violet and the shadow claw appeared once again. Riolu leapt at the Corpish and slashed it down the middle, causing it to flinch.

But after doing so, the claw vanished and Riolu once again had no idea how he'd used it. And for the first time, the threat had not been averted by a single slash. Corpish was still standing tall and able to fight back.

Jacob, not knowing any other moves for Riolu shouted, "RIOLU, USE QUICK ATTACK!!!" as Riolu charged towards Corpish, Donavan simply smiling and giving a command of his own.

Corpish opened up one of its claws holding it in front of him while Riolu carelessly ran into it. Blood started to drip down the infant's sides as it cried out in pain, stuck in Corpish's vice grip.

Jacob's eyes widened as the boy was now in panic. Meanwhile, Izy had managed to do some pretty good damage to Glameow with her Hoothoot.

But not all was looking up as Glameow waited for Hoothoot to swoop in for a peck attack. Then Jenna grinned wickedly shouting, "Dodge it and use Shadow Claw!"

Glameow got up to her feet perfectly as if Hoothoot's previous attacks had done nothing, using her spring tail to bounce above over the owl's head then created a dark energy claw like Riolu's, only a little bit less impressive. Glameow descended planting the claw into Hoothoot's chest going downwards. The owl's chest was now covered in cuts as blood came out and she fell to the ground, defeated while Izy's eyes were wide open.

"Yes!" Jenna shouted with much glee, "I knew these Pokemon would help us!"

"Don't count me out just yet," Izy said with a grimace, "I still have one Pokemon left."

This did worry Jenna a bit, but Izy knew this was risky. Beedrill had taken in a lot of damage from Hoothoot the previous day and even though she'd had a whole night to rest up, she still wasn't fully recovered. But what else was Izy to do? So she threw the Pokeball as the bee emerged at least looking ready for battle.

Jacob was in full panic mode as Riolu took in a bubble attack and looked like he was going to pass out. But it still tried its best to stay up as Jacob looked with concern.

"Riolu, please, you need to rest," he said taking out a Pokeball, "Rest inside the Pokeball. You can't go on like this any longer."

But Riolu refused as his palm started glow. Jacob knew what this was. This was an attack known as Force Palm. He had no idea Riolu knew such a move.

The Pokemon charged towards Corpish and dodged when the crab attempted to catch it in its claws again, planting its palm hard into the crab's face and knocking it out for good. There was no way, just no way. Donavan stared at the sight; eyes widened while he fell on his knees and returned Corpish to his haven of safety. He couldn't believe it. Corpish had been defeated.

Jacob breathed a sigh of relief until Riolu started to look rather woozy. Then the small Pokemon collapsed as Jacob realized what had happened. Riolu had overexerted himself and lost most of his energy. He was a baby. He shouldn't have had to deal with such torment. Jacob shouldn't have let Riolu fight in the first place. What was he thinking?

Jacob sighed and said, "I know you don't like this, but you give me no choice," and with that, he opened up a Pokeball and allowed the light to take Riolu into it. He couldn't allow Riolu to take in such abuse.

Things weren't looking quite as good for Izy as Beedrill was pinned against he ground. Glameow was just about to deliver the finishing blow when Izy mouthed a command to Beedrill. The bee Pokemon saw the lip movements and understood as it jabbed one of its stingers into Glameow's incoming paw, piercing through the flesh. Then it used the other stinger to put a small hole in Glameow's belly as the cat coughed up a drop of blood and passed out from the pain.

Jenna sighed and returned the cat Pokemon shouting, "You haven't seen the last of us!" the two taking off while Izy shouted, "WAIT!" but it was too late.

Izy let down tears as Jacob asked, "What's wrong? You won, right?"

"No," Izy said, "I won the fight, but I didn't win the battle. I wanted to capture those two and put them to justice!"

Jacob had to admit, he was very concerned now. He knelt down next to the girl and asked, "What happened between you and Team Advent?"

Izy wiped her tears and explained, "Team Advent killed my parents… I can't forgive them for that…"

Jacob's eyes widened as he nodded his head in understanding. At that moment, the two agreed to help one-another when Team Advent launched another attack on them, and so the two were a team now. They would be traveling together from now on.


	4. Chapter 4

Pokemon Quest

Note: Sorry for any confusion by the people who read chapter 3 before I edited it. I was originally intending on the new girl's name being Izy, but I accidentally changed it to Stacy for some reason, but now it's officially Izy. I also noticed that I accidentally called Jacob Neil in chapter 2. I'm way too used to using that name for my original characters.

It had been quite the morning for Jacob and Izy as they walked through the woods hoping to reach town soon. Neither had even gotten a chance to eat, so they were starving.

Then Jacob saw something in the corner of his eye. It was a tree with fresh apples growing from it. Jacob looked back to how his mom would bake apple pie every now and then and just had to get a bite.

"Hey, Izy," he said as Izy turned her gaze to him and saw him pointing at the tree. Her stomach growled and thus, the two agreed that they needed food.

Jacob was up on Izy's shoulders reaching for the apples when he felt something smack his hand. He blinked and reached for another apple only to feel that sharp pain in his hand again. He grimaced and reached to grab the apples again only to have the same result.

"What's the hold-up?" Izy asked as Jacob grunted, "Something's guarding these apples."

Then a rather large creature fell on Jacob's face as he and Izy collapsed, Jacob rubbing his head until Izy shoved him off of her, an irritated look on her face. She looked ready to hit him for losing his balance when she noticed what had caused it flying back up into the tree, a pair of wings sticking out of a hard shell.

Her look turned from anger to wonder as she smiled wickedly saying, "If it can fly, it's mine."

"NO, WAIT!!!" Jacob snapped, climbing back up to his feet and looking up into the tree wide-eyed, "That's a Heracross!"

"And…?" Izy asked tapping her foot while Jacob replied, "I have wanted a Heracross all my life! You cannot rob me of this opportunity!"

Izy looked at him rather cross, but seeing the determination in Jacob's eyes, she sighed and figured she may as well give the boy his chance. Jacob smiled and threw a Pokeball towards the tree top as a small monkey Pokemon emerged.

'Finally, a chance to use Chimchar,' he thought with a grin as Izy simply blinked, thinking, 'It's weird enough that he has a Riolu, but how did he acquire a Chimchar?'

A rather large amount of hard blows could be heard from within the tree as soon enough, Heracross emerged with Chimchar in its arms flying towards the ground and ramming the monkey's head into it. The beetle seemed to have at least suffered some damage, but not a whole lot whereas Chimchar already had a few wounds on its body.

"Alright, now that we can see our opponent, this should be easier," Jacob said, "Insects are vulnerable against fire, so use Ember!"

Chimchar opened up its mouth releasing small fireballs that resembled bullets as Heracross dodged to the right and charged at the monkey, horn lowered. But Chimchar, like Heracross, was certainly not a slow Pokemon. It's a monkey. What can you expect?

As such, Chimchar dodged the incoming Horn Attack and sent a series of fireballs to Heracross' back hitting it dead-on and creating small explosions. The fire was just enough to make Heracross weak as Jacob grinned and pulled out his Pokeball, hurling it at the large beetle.

The Pokeball opened up as a light emerged and the ball consumed its target. The Pokeball shook back and forth for a while, but stopped as Heracross had been caught fair and square.

Jacob threw his hands in the air dancing in celebration of his first capture while Izy sighed, happy for him but also disappointed that she couldn't catch Heracross herself. The disappointment turned to embarrassment when Jacob hugged her and shouted, "THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR ALLOWING ME THIS CHANCE!!!"

Izy smiled nervously, patting him on the back and let out a simple, "Uh… no problem…"

So after that awkward display, the two were back on the road to Rowerberg. While they continue their travels, let's take you to a familiar girl from chapter 2.

Roxanne was ironically in these same woods and had just finished a battle with a bird Pokemon known as Pidgey. Her Turtwig had been defeated rather easily, and it only made sense. Plant types were weak against flying types. Sure, strategy could turn a disadvantage into nothing serious, but Roxanne wasn't exactly the most intelligent person in the world.

"MY LITTLE TURTWIG!!!" she shouted running over to him and rubbed his cheek up against hers, "Are you okay!?"

Sure, the loss had been quite painful, but all this unwanted attention was making Turtwig even more uncomfortable. In fact, it's making me uncomfortable. Let's go back to the characters we actually care about.

After quite some time, Jacob and Izy finally found Rowerberg. Upon entering the town, Jacob spotted a young teenaged girl approaching them. She looked really beautiful and Jacob couldn't help but stared, hearts in his eyes while Izy rolled hers.

"Hello, are you here to challenge the gym leader?" she asked with nice soothing voice. Jacob nodded as the girl giggled and said, "My name's Anna. I wish you the best of luck."

As she skipped merrily away from them, Jacob took off his dopy smile and asked, "What was that about?"

"Who cares?" Izy asked, "We need to get our Pokemon to the Pokemon Centre, remember?"

Once again, Izy was right, so a few minutes later the two entered a Pokemon Centre, which was basically a hospital for Pokemon. There a young nurse waited by a counter for people who needed their Pokemon to be treated.

"Welcome," she said with a calm smile as Jacob set down his three Pokeballs asking, "Can you treat my Pokemon, Nurse… uh…"

"Just call me Nurse Sincerity," she replied with a friendlier smile, Izy handing her Pokemon over as well. Something that might be good to note is that all nurses were named after some kind of emotion or personality.

Meanwhile, a few feet outside of town, Donavan and Jenna sat on a log, sighing a sigh of discontent. Their failure had not exactly left a good impact on them.

"We were so close," Jenna said with a sniff while Donavan replied, "We'll never be able to face the boss after this."

Then it hit them. They didn't exactly have to face the boss again. They could just keep trying and return to him when they actually had the Riolu in their grasp. It was brilliant.

After Riolu had been healed, he jumped into Jacob's arms crying into his shoulder, clearly not satisfied with the fact that he'd been trapped in a small space for quite some time. Jacob simply patted his back and said, "I'm sorry, Riolu, but I had to."

And so noon came and after the group had eaten a good lunch from the Pokemon Centre, they marched towards the gym. Izy smiled at Jacob and said, "Best of luck to you in there."

"You mean you're not going to join me?" he asked as Izy shook her head and said, "There's supposed to be a contest held in this town. I want to join it before it's too late. See ya later!"

The girl took off as Jacob shrugged. He'd really wanted Izy to see him win the gym badge, but it didn't matter. Just as long as he got it in the end, that was good enough for him.

He and Riolu entered a big building with a ground covered in sand with a few rocks added in as props while a young girl appeared before him. Jacob's eyes went wide. This was the same girl he had met when he entered Rowerberg. Riolu just looked up at his master with a confused look.

"Oh, hi Anna," he said waving his hand, "Are you here for a gym battle too? I don't think the gym leader's here."

Anna giggled and replied, "You're so silly. I am the gym leader."

Jacob couldn't believe this. Why was such a young girl in charge of a gym? Well, that didn't matter. All he wanted to do was earn himself a gym badge and he would stop at nothing to do so.

Anna smiled her friendly smile and said, "I will use Pokemon for this battle, but you can use as many as you feel you need. Whoever runs out of Pokemon first loses."

That last part was obvious to Jacob, but he was quite relieved not to be limited to a certain number of Pokemon. Anna then said that Jacob had to choose first as the boy felt a little discouraged now. See, sending out one's Pokemon first was a bit of a disadvantage as one could send out anything and not know what the opponent had.

Nevertheless, he hurled a Pokeball into the arena shouting, "GO HERACROSS!!!"

He figured this was a better time than ever to give the beetle Pokemon a shot. Riolu's eyes went wide. Where had this Heracross come from? Couldn't Jacob have waited until Riolu had gotten better? The infant wanted to know these things, after all. Anna giggled and said, "That's a nice Pokemon, but it's nothing compared to my Geodude!"

The young girl threw her ball into the ring as a floating boulder with arms appeared. This was a rock-type Pokemon, which had a good advantage over most Pokemon who relied on physical attacks. Rock types were also immune to electric attacks, so an electric type would be helpless against one. (Seriously, am I the only one who's noticed that the vast majority of first gyms are rock types?)

Jacob was a little bit alarmed by this, but he had confidence in his new Pokemon as he shouted, "HERACROSS, GO IN FOR A HORN ATTACK!!!"

The beetle rammed its head hard into Geodude only to deal slight damage to its horn while dealing minimal damage to its target, a small portion of its strong horn chipped off already. Jacob felt rather ashamed of himself for allowing that in the bug Pokemon's first battle.

'There must be something I can do,' he thought, 'But what other attacks does a Heracross know? I wish I had a Pokedex like Roxanne does.'

But he had little time to think this over as Anna gave the command for Geodude to ram its body into Heracross sending skidding across the sandy floor. This was a very simple beginner attack known as Tackle. Many strong Pokemon knew it by nature.

As things looked helpless for the beetle, Jacob remembered seeing a documentary of Heracross on the news once. The speaker listed the attacks that Heracross generally started with. He knew which effective move a new Heracross could use.

"HERACROSS, USE LEER!!!" he shouted.

Anna had to admit, he was impressed that Jacob would suggest this while Heracross' eyes glowed, glaring into Geodude's eyes. Leer was a move that Heracross could use from the very start. What it did was lower the enemy's defense.

With Geodude's rock body weaker, the battle wouldn't be so tough for it anymore, so Jacob gave the beetle a command as Heracross unleashed its own tackle on Geodude ramming its head into the boulder.

Geodude was now in much worse pain for Leer had the power to cut a Pokemon's defensive properties in half for that battle. Anna saw that she needed to get more serious and said, "Good job sustaining the blow, Geodude. Now use Rock Throw!"

Geodude picked up one of the gym's prop rocks and hurled it at Heracross who was unable to dodge it in time. Now, against a normal flying type, Rock Throw would have been a major threat, but Heracross was a bit different from your typical flying type, so the blow wasn't quite enough to take him down.

"Alright, Heracross," Jacob said, "I think it's time we ended this! Use Night Slash!"

With that, Heracross flew at Geodude who was unable to dodge in time to avoid a large slash to the face. The slash had actually created a mark on Geodude as he fell to the ground in defeat, Jacob grinning while Riolu breathed a sigh of relief. That battle was really intense for the little guy.

Anna simply blinked then smiled warmly saying, "That was really good, Jacob! You are more than worthy to face my next Pokemon!"

Jacob smiled but noticed that Heracross was feeling a bit weak from that battle, so he sighed and returned the beetle Pokemon saying, "You did a good job, Heracross."

Anna held up her Pokeball with a much more serious look than before and hurled it into the battle field shouting, "GO, NOSEPASS!!!"

Jacob and Riolu's eyes went wide as a large totem pole head with legs entered the sandy arena. See, Jacob had a deep fear of Nosepass. This wasn't a childhood trauma or anything. These giant stone monsters just scared him senseless.

Riolu held onto Jacob's leg trembling, clearly afraid of it too. Not for the same reason Jacob had, but because Nosepass was at least 20 times the infant's size. This was going to be a hard battle now.


	5. Chapter 5

Pokemon Quest

Jacob was now in a bit of a pickle. That Geodude was hard enough, but now he had to face a Nosepass. Riolu looked far too scared to stand up to the beast and Jacob didn't even think for a minute that the infant could handle a fight against something so big anyway.

He did feel a bit skeptical about using Chimchar, though, but then he remembered that while fire wasn't exactly a weakness of rock types, they didn't necessarily have a big advantage over it either. (Seriously, in the games, fire attacks deal about the same amount of damage to rock types as normal attacks would deal to something like a Bidoof)

With that, he threw his Pokeball shouting, "GO CHIMCHAR!!!" the monkey Pokemon emerging from his Pokeball with a grin on his face. Despite Nosepass' incredible size, Chimchar seemed completely unfazed.

Anna smiled her warm, gentle smile saying, "You are so lucky to have a Chimchar. I'm so jealous of you. You even have a Riolu!"

Jacob blushed while Riolu just blinked. He still didn't understand why childish girls had this disturbing attraction to him.

The battle resumed as Anna became serious again shouting, "Nosepass, use Block!"

The large totem's red nose glowed as a strange aura surrounded the monkey. Chimchar looked around, noticing it had taken in no pain, Jacob wondering what had just happened.

"Thanks to block, you can't return Chimchar if he's in trouble," Anna explained as Jacob started to panic. Sure, he had confidence in Chimchar for sure, but what if the monkey couldn't manage against a Nosepass? The poor monkey would need healing again but that was just how gym battles worked. Gym leaders were, after all, some of the toughest trainers in the world.

Jacob was well aware that none of Chimchar's other attacks would do much, but he also didn't know any other attack of that the monkey had, so he shouted the first attack that came to mind: Ember. The monkey opened his mouth firing small fireballs at the large totem who was too large to dodge it. However, it seemed to take in minimal damage as Chimchar started to panic.

"USE ROCK THROW!!!" Anna shouted as Nosepass slowly lifted up all of the arena's rocks, mashing them together to create one large boulder. Jacob's eyes went wide as Riolu started to tremble, clinging onto the boy's leg. There was no way he could let this hit.

"CHIMCHAR, TAKE ADVANTAGE OF THIS!!!" the boy spat, "HIT THAT MONSTROCITY WHILE IT'S STILL PREPARING ITS ATTACK!!!"

Chimchar nodded as its hands glowed, Nosepass surrounded by an aura. Jacob hadn't even given the command for the monkey to do this, but he was glad to know that Chimchar knew Leer.

Chimchar proceeded to deliver furious scratches to the totem's face. Sure, these didn't do much, but they left a few claw marks while the monkey unleashed another ember attack.

Unfortunately, this onslaught had only done a little damage and didn't even get so much as the reaction from the totem beast as it finished sculpting its boulder and hurled the large rock at Chimchar, the large stone crushing her. A shockwave emitted and a crack climbed to the top of the rock before it broke into many pieces, Chimchar just barely able to breathe.

'Darnit,' Jacob thought, returning the monkey to her Pokeball with a sigh. He knew it was going to be hard, but this was just ridiculous. But at least Chimchar had managed to halve Nosepass' defense. This at least gave him a slight advantage.

"Alright, Riolu," he said, "Make me proud out there."

While Riolu would normally rush into battle when his master needed it, he seemed too scared to even move from his spot. When Jacob looked at the Pokemon with concern, the infant crouched down sobbing heavily.

"Well, Heracross didn't exactly lose," Jacob said with a smile, "If I'm lucky, he can finish the job."

And so he sent out the beetle Pokemon who was breathing heavily, Anna with a very confident smile. While she along with every other gym leader had little to gain from beating trainers, she felt good knowing that her Pokemon were still strong as ever.

"HERACROSS, USE NIGHT SLASH!!!" Jacob shouted, but rather than doing what he was told to, Heracross charged at Nosepass with his horn lowered. Jacob cringed at the sight of this, spellbound by this rash action. Didn't Heracross remember that his horn had a chip in it from the battle with Geodude? We didn't want the beetle to lose his mighty horn completely.

"HERACROSS!!!" he shouted, "YOU ALREADY CHIPPED THE CORNER OF YOUR HORN!!! DON'T BREAK IT FOR MY SAKE OTHERWISE YOU CAN'T USE HORN ATTACK ANYMORE!!!"

Heracross' eyes widened when it heard this. Jacob had a point, so it repositioned its body raising its head and ramming it into Nosepass' chest for a tackle attack. The attack dealt some minor damage to Nosepass, but Heracross ended up hurting himself even more as Nosepass unleashed a Zap Cannon from its magnetic nose and knocking Heracross out for good.

Anna gasped, eyes sparkling as she shouted, "I didn't even know you could use that!"

Riolu was still crying into Jacob's pant leg as the boy sighed and turned to the infant saying, "Riolu, you need to get in there. Don't do it for me. Do it for your fallen comrades."

Riolu wiped its tears and looked up at his master, nodding in understanding. Anna smiled warmly once again, quite happy to see Riolu with confidence now.

"RIOLU, USE FORCE PALM!!!" Jacob shouted as Riolu nodded charging at Nosepass with a glowing palm and slamming it into the totem's face. See, Force Palm was a fighting type move and while rock types could stand up to normal attacks, fighting type moves had a large advantage over them.

"Good job!" Jacob shouted as for the first time in the entire battle, Nosepass started to show a sign of pain.

Riolu delivered three more as Anna grinned, feeling quite satisfied with this comeback. This was the kind of fight she had been waiting for but she would not allow her opponent an easy victory.

"NOSEPASS, USE ZAP CANNON!!!" she shouted as the totem's nose started to electrify again. Unlike Nosepass' other techniques, this one didn't require props to perform. Also, tackle attack, which Nosepass was known to start with, would have taken far too long for its slow body to use.

But just as the electricity came close to hitting Riolu, the creature's body glowed violet as a barrier surrounded it sending the attack back at Nosepass. Jacob's eyes sparkled as he knew what this was. This was known as Counter.

Sure, Nosepass felt no pain from the attack whatsoever, but the fact remained that Riolu had survived it. The infant went in to deliver one last Force Palm and planted his palm hard into the totem's face. Nosepass fell on its back and would not get up as Anna smiled calmly, returning her prized Pokemon.

Jacob stood there breathing heavily as he asked, "Did I just win?" Anna smiling warmly while saying, "Yep, you beat me fair and square!"

Jacob's eyes sparkled as he embraced Riolu dancing around happily. He had just earned himself his first gym badge. He was so happy he could cry.

Anna skipped merrily over to Jacob and handed him a badge shaped like a totem pole head and said, "You have earned this Totem Badge!"

"What is this?" came a voice as both turned to an older-looking teen girl with long green hair, "Are you trying to steal my job again, Anna?"

Anna started to panic for the first time since Jacob had met her. He never would have expected to see her tremble, and here she was… trembling.

"Sarah, you're back from your trip to the store," Anna said, "It's good to see you home, big sis!"

Sarah sighed as Jacob asked, "Are you the real gym leader?"

"Of course I am," the girl replied, "Anna keeps trying to pose as me. Still, it's rather impressive that you beat her, so I feel you have earned that badge."

Jacob sighed with relief. The last thing he wanted was to go through with that again. After all was cleared up about how Anna was the gym leader's little sister and how Anna only took over because she was bored of her normal life, Sarah agreed to let Anna travel with Jacob. Jacob and Riolu were both skeptical at first but decided to accept it in the end.

Jacob also knew that Izy's contest was still going on, and with how long he had been gone for, he assumed it had reached the final round by now. Whether Izy had made it that far or not, Jacob knew that it was only right to accompany her anyway.

And would you believe it? Jacob was right on the money. The finals had indeed started as an announcer stood tall to introduce the finalists.

See, contests composed of five rounds. The first round was a simple beauty contest and challenge show combined while the last four played out like a tournament in which trainers would battle, but rather than having to win, they would have to earn points by looking good and pleasing the crowd.

"Izy's not in the audience anywhere," Jacob said while Anna smiled saying, "Perhaps she's in the final round."

Riolu had to admit, he was a bit nervous being in the bleachers sitting on Jacob's lap. He had never been in a single area with so many people in it at once sitting so close to one-another. But he refused to cry as after that gym battle, he felt a little more obligated to think of Jacob's feelings ahead of his own. If Jacob wanted to stay, Riolu would have to endure it.

"Introducing our finalists!" the announcer shouted, "First up is Roxanne!"

Jacob groaned, not feeling in the least bit happy to see Roxanne in the finals. He should have seen it coming.

Roxanne saw Jacob in the front row and waved to him shouting, "HI, JACOB!!! DID YOU COME ALL THIS WAY TO SEE LITTLE OLD ME!!!?? YOU'RE SWEET!!!"

Jacob wanted to cry so badly right now as Anna smiled and asked, "Is that a friend of yours? That's wonderful."

"We're acquaintances," Jacob muttered, "To call me one of her friends is like questioning my sanity."

"And our other finalist is Izy!" the man shouted as Jacob clapped wildly for his friend who entered the stadium from the other side. She saw Jacob in the crowd and smiled, but she refused to wave as she figured it would break her concentration.

And so the battle began as Roxanne sent out a small raccoon-like Pokemon with arms similar to a flying squirrel's called Sentret. Yes, surprise of surprises, she actually managed to catch something. Go figure.

Izy smirked knowing that she had the upper hand as she summoned her precious Hoothoot, the crowd cheering for both Pokemon. Anna smiled and said, "Two of your friends are in this. It must be hard deciding who to route for."

"I'm routing for Izy," Jacob said almost abruptly before quickly adding, "Roxanne's not my friend."

Roxanne started by having Sentret perform Quick Attack. Jacob had to admit she had taught it pretty well before the contest had started as it ran in a beautiful pattern similar to a figure eight. Each time it hit the middle of the eight it would land a blow on Hoothoot, but Izy grinned as if she'd expected this before mouthing a command, once again using no actual words.

But like always, Hoothoot understood and took off into the sky causing Sentret to become dizzy. Roxanne was a little worried as the owl's eyes glowed a brilliant shade of blue, more so than it had in combat and Sentret falling victim to its confusion attack.

To make a long story short, Izy wound up victorious over Roxanne who had been pretty much defenseless from the point Sentret got hit in the first place. She gladly accepted her prize ribbon and medal while Jacob and Anna both applauded her, Riolu starting to actually get into the action himself, showing support for his friend as well.

Izy smiled as Jacob grinned saying, "You were great out there," Izy nodded in understanding before asking, "What's that girl from earlier doing here?"

As Jacob took his Pokemon to the centre to recover from his gym battle, he explained every important detail leading up to Anna being placed in their group. Anna and Izy introduced themselves to one-another and all was looking well for the team now. But don't think it's all sunshine and smiles from here because we cannot forget, Team Advent is still out there plotting world domination.


	6. Chapter 6

Pokemon Quest

With the gym battle and contest won, our heroes were back on the road with a new ally. Things were really looking up now. Unfortunately, Donavan and Jenna were close at hand.

"Look at that," Donavan said with a look of uncertainty, "They have a new ally."

"That's not a big deal to me," Jenna said, "I've heard of that girl before."

Donavan looked at his partner and blinked while the girl slapped her forehead explaining, "That's the Rowerberg Gym Leader, Anna. As a top member of Team Advent, it is my job to know these things. All of her Pokemon are rock types, so this will be no problem for you and your Corpish."

Donavan had to admit she had a point there. Rock Types were weak against not only fighting types but water and plant types as well. Yeah, I don't see the logic either, but it's best not to question it.

The trio was headed towards a city known as Celestial City. It was said to be a very lively and modernized place, but to get there they needed to head through more fields and forests, but along the way was a bridge that they had to cross. Either way, it was no different than getting to Rowerberg. They were just going in another direction and meeting new Pokemon.

Anna was admiring the scenery for she hadn't left Rowerberg before while Izy looked high and low, unsatisfied with the fact that there were no flying types to be seen. Jacob, however, seemed content.

"So how far do we have to go?" Izy asked as Jacob shrugged and looked at Anna who also didn't know. But their question had been answered when they ended up in front of a bridge that spanned over a mighty brook.

"This bridge means we only have a little ways left," Jacob stated, Izy sighing with relief while Riolu simply smiled happily as he was riding in Jacob's backpack with his head out of the pouch today.

But just as they were about to cross, a red ball spun towards the bridge forming into a crab Pokemon and cutting the ropes. Jacob's eyes went wide with fear as the bridge collapsed. Anna just blinked, feeling rather confused about what had just happened and Riolu, head turned away from the group, was trembling as it let out a loud cry.

"What's wrong, Riolu?" Jacob asked, and when he turned around, Riolu jumping out of his backpack, he gritted his teeth angrily. Donavan and Jenna stood there with wicked smiles on their faces as Jenna said, "You're trapped, little man."

Anna's eyes sparkled as she couldn't help but marvel at Corpish's impressive look. However, Izy was steamed. Not only did that Corpish prevent a quick trip to the next town, but it belonged to the very group she hated ever so much.

Anna finally noticed the two humans and folded her arms saying, "Cutting the rope wasn't very nice," as Donavan and Jenna both laughed. Anna couldn't believe this. Those two felt proud of themselves for cutting the ropes.

"Who are these jerks?" she asked as Jacob looked at her with surprise. This was the first time Anna had gotten angry. Truly this was a sight to behold.

Izy glared at them saying, "This is Team Advent, a group of trainers bent of capturing strong Pokemon for their boss."

Jacob smiled and said, "Don't look so alarmed. It's not like these guys are a threat. We beat them last time and now that we got more and stronger Pokemon, they should be a snap.

Jenna felt rather stupid after hearing that. Not once had she considered capturing more Pokemon to improve her team. Nevertheless, she would not forfeit because of logic.

She summoned her Glameow, Anna marveling at its presence briefly, and Izy unleashed her Hoothoot as Jacob decided to use Heracross to battle Corpish this time. He figured Riolu deserved a break from winning just about every one of his battles.

Heracross delivered a fierce Horn Attack, the first truly successful one, to Corpish as Donavan felt completely unprepared for this battle. He had really hoped to face one of Anna's rock types instead.

He had Corpish use everything it had from Vice Grip to Bubble, but nothing seemed to work too well against Heracross who had a large advantage throughout the entire battle. Hoothoot was also doing an amazing job as she dealt some serious pain to Glameow with a ferocious Peck Attack to the cat's tummy.

Glameow gritted her teeth as Jenna said, "Don't give up yet, Glameow. We beat Hoothoot last time, and we can do it again!"

Riolu simply clapped his hands happily as Corpish was just about to go down. But when Heracross zoomed in for one last Horn Attack, Corpish raised its claw and rammed it into the beetle's horn stopping it in place.

"What was that?" Jacob asked as Donavan grinned wickedly saying, "My Corpish knows Crab Hammer. I am a very proud owner now."

But the attack didn't seem to do much as Heracross simply ignored it, knocking Corpish's claw to the side with his horn and slashing it across the chest with his Night Slash. Donavan let down tears as he brought Corpish back.

While this went on, Hoothoot managed to defeat Glameow with Confusion, the cat laying there and Jenna in panic. How had Hoothoot managed to defeat Glameow this time when before it had failed miserably?

Jenna angrily returned her cat Pokemon as the two ran off once again, Izy not feeling satisfied enough. Jacob placed a hand on her shoulder and said, "Hey, at least we won."

Izy kept her angry expression as she said, "They got away again. I wanted to punish them for what they put me through."

"I agree with Izy," Anna replied, "Those two deserve to be punished for ruining our trip."

Clearly, Anna had other reasons to hate them, but nevertheless the three had a common goal now. All of them wanted Team Advent defeated.

But what of the bridge? It was now down, so the trio had to walk around, which was a long trip. If only Izy's flying Pokemon could handle human weight. Maybe then they wouldn't need the bridge.

But as they continued along with their journey, Jacob noticed something odd. It was a temple of some kind with strange markings on it. He blinked and wandered towards it as if a strange force was pulling him in, Riolu chasing after him feeling confused by all of this.

"Hey, Jacob, where are you going?" Izy asked, but the force seemed to overcome her as well for she started to wander towards the temple.

Anna didn't really feel the effects they did, but she liked temples, so she followed them just for the fun of it all, unaware of the fact that the two had no control over what they were doing. The second the group entered, the door to the temple closed shut. Now all 4 were trapped with no way to escape.

"Oh no," Izy said, "OH HELLZ NO!!!"

She started beating her fist against the door but to no avail as it refused to open. This was horrible. How were they supposed to fulfill their goals if they were trapped in a temple?

"How are we supposed to get out of here?" Jacob asked as Anna smiled calmly saying, "Most temples have a secret exit. We just need to find it."

Jacob looked at her and replied, "You got that from TV, didn't you?" Anna nodding her head followed by Jacob performing a face palm.

Riolu was scared now. He didn't like this place. Not that he found it too cramped, just that he felt a bad omen resonating through it.

The group had no other choice, so they simply trekked through the temple looking high and low for some kind of exit. Izy stepped on a floorboard that seemed to sink into the ground as her eyes widened.

"What's wrong, Izy?" Jacob asked as Izy smiled nervously saying, "Uh… whoops?"

With that, a trap door opened up as all three humans fell through it, Riolu all alone and scared. He wanted to dive down there just so he could have Jacob's company, but the floor closed up again.

Then a booming voice filled the temple saying, "Young Riolu, you have now been accepted for a most dangerous test of your courage and strength! You must brave this temple and find your friends in the basement! If you refuse, they will be mummified!!!"

Riolu's eyes widened with fear at the thought of his three human companions being turned into mummies. What sort of sick joke was this?

Riolu sat down feeling helpless and started to cry. He knew he couldn't do this alone, but he also knew that if he didn't his friends would be undead. After two minutes, he wiped his tears and decided to face this challenge head-on.

Jacob, Izy and Anna all found themselves chained to tables as they started to panic, even Anna who was mostly calm. Jacob was quite glad that Anna at least had some sense of what danger was but now was not the time to think of that.

Suddenly, a dark shadow rose up forming into a ghost-like Pokemon with a black body, white head and what looked like a red lower lip with sharp jaws. (Seriously, can anyone tell me what that's supposed to be?) The Pokemon looked at them and much to their shock spoke in English.

"Welcome to my temple," he said, "I am Darkrai. You were not brought here by accident."

Izy and Jacob's eyes went wide as Anna blinked asking, "Who's Darkrai?"

"How can you not know who Darkrai is!?" Jacob remarked, his eyes sparkling, "We're in the presence of a legendary Pokemon! This would be so cool if we weren't chained up like this!"

"Come to think of it…" Izy started as she glared at Darkrai saying, "I don't mean to be rude, but I would like an explanation behind this."

Darkrai nodded and said, "I understand. You and Jacob were brought here by my magic for I saw great potential in you."

Both were still confused as the ghost continued; "Team Advent wishes to get a hold of the legendary Pokemon. Their boss figures that this will give them a bigger advantage over us. We may be powerful, but those creeps have the technology to capture us. We cannot allow that. I know they're on the verge of finding me already."

"So what does this have to do with us?" Jacob remarked as Darkrai stated, "You are to help me, make sure this horrible event doesn't happen. But first I need to see if you have trained Riolu well enough for this."

"How do you know about Riolu!?" Jacob spat as Darkrai grinned saying, "You know how his egg mysteriously appeared in your room? I sent him to you."

There was just no way. Jacob knew that the egg's appearance defied logic, but this was really something. But why him? What was so special about a boy who didn't even know what attacks most Pokemon had?

He brought up this very point as Darkrai replied, "I don't know why you happen to have a more positive feeling than most others. You just happened to be the one who I sensed had the potential to defeat Team Advent. Your Riolu is coming here to rescue you and you are chained up because I cannot allow you to help him."

This frightened Jacob. Riolu was not very good by himself, so what were the odds of the Pokemon passing Darkrai's dangerous test.

Nevertheless, there was nothing he could do. Izy was just too confused to comment on the whole thing and Anna just smiled. She felt confident that Riolu could pass this test.

At this very moment, Riolu had managed to make it through various rooms with boulders, spikes and many other traps that one often could expect from temples. However, the last room would be the most difficult of all.

But it didn't seem all that difficult. Riolu noticed a statue of a rock snake called Onyx but that was pretty much it. There was nothing too dangerous about this room.

Suddenly, the statue started to move as Riolu's eyes widened, the small Pokemon seeing himself face-to-face with an Onyx that was larger than a typical Onyx, and that was saying something for this particular Pokemon was one of the largest in the world.

"PREPARE FOR YOUR LAST TEST, YOUNG ONE!!!" came the loud booming voice, "YOU MUST DEFEAT THIS ONYX IN COMBAT!!!"

Riolu was about to cry until he remembered Jacob, Izy and Anna. He couldn't let them down, so he took a defensive stance, knees shaking and body trembling. There was no way he would back down after coming so far.


	7. Chapter 7

Pokemon Quest

Riolu charged at the Onyx with anger in its eyes as it unleashed a powerful Force Palm to its face. Riolu was well aware that Onyx would be weak against it, so Onyx flinching as a result of the attack was not unexpected.

However, that was not the result the poor infant received. Instead, Onyx seemed unfazed and lifted sent Riolu into a wall with a loud roar. Then it proceeded to chase the poor Pokemon who started to flee for his life.

Darkrai had explained the deal he'd made with Riolu and this frightened Jacob. Izy, however, wasn't frightened but really angry at the dark Pokemon. This was ridiculous. If Darkrai was one of the good guys, why would he put their lives on the line?

Anna simply smiled calmly and said dreamily, "I wonder what being a mummy will be like," Jacob and Izy staring at her as if she was a mental patient.

"You're not really gonna do that, are you?" Jacob asked as Izy nodded and added, "Surely, this is just to motivate Riolu."

"I am a Pokemon of my word," Darkrai replied abruptly while the Jacob started to panic and Izy yelled curse words that Darkrai chose to ignore. If Jacob truly was the right trainer for Riolu, the infant would surely defeat Onyx.

Riolu tried Force Palm after Force Palm, but Onyx didn't seem to be getting any weaker. What was up with that? No matter what Riolu did, Onyx felt no pain.

He could have contemplated this fact longer, but Onyx caught him off guard and smacked him into the wall with its long tail. The Onyx then proceeded to dig under the ground, Riolu looking back and forth with fear. He had no idea there was sand below him. It looks so convincingly like stone. Onyx could rise up at any moment. Riolu was already surprised he'd stood up after being whacked so hard by it.

Suddenly, Riolu realized something he could do about this. It was time for him to start thinking like an adult and less like a child as he closed his eyes. He heard sound waves emitting from the ground and opened his eyes, leaping to the side five seconds before Onyx rose up out of the ground.

After delivering another Force Palm, he leapt back catching his breath. Riolu realized that this was getting him nowhere. This Onyx didn't seem to feel pain. But then Riolu's eyes noticed when the infant saw a crack on one of Onyx's stones. Despite Onyx feeling no pain, Riolu had been dealing damage to it, so this hadn't been a total waste.

At this very moment, Riolu's confidence went up ten-fold. He felt as if he could do anything, so he charged at Onyx with fury in his eyes, his eyes glowing.

Unlike his violet eyes, which allowed him to use Shadow Claw, this look seemed to unleash a far more devastating attack known as Reversal. This was an all-out assault that got more powerful as the user took in damage, and that whack by Onyx's tail certainly made Riolu weak enough for this to do some serious damage.

Onyx, for the first time in the entire battle, cried out in pain as it started to feel something overcome it. Its eyes glowed yellow and all cracks left behind from Riolu's attack vanished.

The Onyx charged at the now frightened Riolu who had no idea how he'd just unleashed a Reversal. He then ran away in terror as Onyx rammed its head into his back sending him crashing hard into the wall again.

Riolu fell flat on his back, tears forming in his eyes. How could this happen? Jacob was undoubtedly going to die and he could do nothing to stop it.

No! There was no way Riolu would allow his beloved master to become a mummy. He had to win at all cost. Riolu's eyes started to glow red with rage, but this was a darker shade of red than before. Onyx was going down whether it liked it or not.

Suddenly, a bright light shone around the infant's body as its form started to change, Onyx pausing with a look of fear. The Onyx knew what was going on, but Riolu was confused.

His body became taller and more slender as his upper body was now covered with white fur rather than blue fur. It still had its blue head with the black stripe and black ears, but the head was bigger and the nose was pointier. He also had a second pair of ears atop his head, only these were blue. His black ears now looked more like strands of hair now. His paws had also become black and more dog-like and had spikes sticking up out of them rather than the white pad-like shapes that were originally on his wrists. Finally, his legs were longer and more spread out much like a kangaroo's and his tail was longer.

Riolu had no idea what had just happened, but he felt so much stronger now. This was the just the edge he needed.

Onyx's fear left it as it charged at the infant only to receive a powerful slash to the face that put a rather big mark in it. This wasn't Shadow Claw but rather a move known as Metal Claw. It was a steel type attack, which rock types were also weak against.

As the name implied, Riolu's claws had temporarily become metal for the attack to work. It felt good using such a strong attack.

Onyx continued its assault as Riolu leapt over its head landing on its back and repeatedly slamming its fists into it. This was known as Close Combat, another fighting move.

Onyx was frightened as cracks formed all over its body, then Riolu leapt high above its head charging up a ball of blue energy in its hands, which were cupped. Finally, Riolu unleashed the ball known as Aura Sphere as it created a massive explosion on Onyx, knocking the rock snake out for good, its entire body smothered with cracks, on section preventing it from falling to pieces.

Riolu didn't care. He had won the battle and gotten a new look to boot. He felt very satisfied.

It had been quite a long wait. Jacob and Izy were getting restless now as it seemed the infant wouldn't make it out alive. But Darkrai had a look of happiness in his eyes, if possible, as he seemed to know something the others didn't. Even Anna had a positive feeling too, though that might have been due to the fact that she thought the idea of being a mummy was cool.

Jacob's eyes went wide and sparkled when he noticed a light shine and a shadowy figure that looked like Riolu enter the area. But as the light dimmed, he realized it wasn't Riolu but a different Pokemon.

"Most impressive," Darkrai said, "Your Riolu has evolved into a Lucario."

Jacob's eyes sparkled as Darkrai unchained the trio. Jacob ran over to Rio- I mean Lucario and hugged the Pokemon while I, the author, sat idly by feeling incredibly stupid for not realizing it myself.

Izy blinked and stood there speechless. This was incredible. It wasn't just the fact that the infant had won but that he had evolved so quickly. No recorded evolution had ever been so quick before.

Anna's eyes were sparkly too as she had been blessed with the sight of a Lucario. She knew Riolu would evolve, just not so early in his development.

"Congratulations," Darkrai said as Lucario looked at him with a serious look, Darkrai nodding and saying, "It seems you recognize me. I didn't think you would after I turned back time for you and restarted your life."

"Wait…" Jacob said in response, "what's this all about?"

Darkrai sighed, feeling that he may as well explain this and started his story:

"That Lucario you are holding has seen many battles," Darkrai said, "He was actually born more than 300 years ago. I have sent him to many trainers over the past to make sure he fulfills his duties and stops any threat from taking over. I send him to the trainer I feel the strongest energy from."

"Are you saying that Lucario is over 300 years old?" Izy remarked as Darkrai nodded and continued; "That Pokemon is the most powerful of his kind. That is why I've relied on him all these years. Every time his trainer dies of old age, he's always too weak to continue, so I always appear before him to transform him back into his egg state so he can continue to fight to this day."

This was a lot to take in, but eventually the three understood. Now this had gotten serious. Jacob had a serious responsibility on his shoulders now. His life had just become more complicated than it had already been.

Lucario looked up at his master and took his hand as Jacob sighed, "Don't worry, Darkrai. We promise we'll help you defeat Team Advent."

Izy nodded as well saying, "I have a serious grudge against those men, so count me in as well," Anna nodding and saying, "Those Team Advent guys are mean."

Darkrai nodded and said, "Don't rush into things, though. I and the other legendary Pokemon will see what we can do. Save your efforts as a last-minute resort. I do not wish for this to get in the way of your own goals, understand?"

Jacob nodded, feeling rather confused by all of this. Weren't Legendary Pokemon more powerful than Lucario was? Why was Lucario a last-minute resort?

Whatever the reason, Jacob dared not question things any further. When the group left the temple, the boy wished that he'd remembered to ask Darkrai about Lucario's glowing eyes. Why did Lucario's eyes glow every now and then and how did this allow him to use Shadow Claw?

Nevertheless, Darkrai had assured him that he needn't worry, so he and his friends were back on track, back on the road to Celestial City where the second gym battle would wait.

Meanwhile, Donavan and Jenna had just captured something. I know, it scares me too, but they actually managed to do it.

"With this, who needs that stupid Riolu?" Jenna asked as Donavan nodded while saying, "This is much better."

The two held up a cage with bars made of pure energy. Within the cage was a small hedgehog-like Pokemon, but rather than having bristles, it had what looked like moss covering its back. It had snow-white flesh and flowers next to its ears. This was a Shaymin.

Shaymin weren't just rare, they were legendary. For Donavan and Jenna to find one was a miracle of a lifetime. But these two didn't even realize it. They just knew it was rare and that was enough for them. Whether it was legendary or not didn't matter to them.

See, the boss only revealed his biggest plans to Team Advent members who he had big trust in. He didn't trust Donavan and Jenna that much, so they didn't know about his need for legendary Pokemon. They knew he'd be pleased, but they had no idea how pleased he would be to receive Shaymin.

I'm going a little too far into detail right now, so let's get back to the main story. After traveling for another hour or so, our three main characters finally arrived in Celestial City only to find that the gym was closed.

"What's going on?" Jacob asked, eye twitching as Anna skipped over to a sign on the door and read, "Sorry for the inconvenience. I am out doing research right now. Sincerely, Jonathan."

Jacob sighed and said, "I guess we have to wait."

"Well, you can wait here all you like," Izy stated, "I'm going to look around town."

Jacob felt insulted as he ran after his friends insisting that he would join them. Despite the events that had happened as of late, some things didn't change. Jacob was going to keep his promise to Darkrai no matter how bad things got.


	8. Chapter 8

Pokemon Quest

As the trio explored Celestial City, let's go to the Team Advent headquarters. Varen waited impatiently for results, twiddling his thumbs. Even his most trusted men hadn't been making much progress. He currently had 10 Tauros, which was fine except that it was getting redundant. For the other Pokemon he was receiving, they weren't much. It seemed even the higher class members couldn't handle the task of capturing the mightiest of Pokemon.

That was until the door opened up and a young woman with long violet hair and a serious look entered the room. This was one of the few who had proven herself good enough for the rank of a general, Perona. She approached the man's desk and held out a Pokeball, but this wasn't any Pokeball.

See, there were more than one type of Pokeball in the world and certain ones made it easier to catch certain types of Pokemon. The ball Perona had presented was known as a Master Ball, a ball that could capture anything regardless of its strength or health, meaning it could catch a Pokemon at full health with little to no effort.

"It's good to see you entering my office," Varen said with a smile, "You always capture the best of the best for my arsenal."

"That is most certainly true, isn't it?" Perona said with a look of satisfaction.

Varen placed the master ball on a computer that told him of the contents. After the scanning was done, the computer said in a female voice, "This ball contains Aerodactyl, a flying Dinosaur Pokemon said to be extinct."

Varen was most pleased with this. Not only had Perona acquired a Pokemon that was said not to exist but she'd caught the most powerful one of all. There was no dinosaur Pokemon mightier than Aerodactyl. (Unless Groudon counts)

But Varen didn't realize that he would be more pleased when he saw Donavan and Jenna enter the room at this exact moment carrying a cage with a cloth over it. He really didn't want them destroying his good mood, but he may as well be happy with the fact that they'd captured something.

"We have a rare Pokemon for you," Jenna said as Varen rolled his eyes saying, "Just show it to me already."

The second they removed the cloth, Varen's look of annoyance turned to a smile, a smile much wider than when Perona presented her catch. He simply couldn't believe his eyes.

"Do you like it, boss?" Donavan asked as Perona just looked at them, eye twitching. How could they catch a legendary Pokemon with their lack of effort?

Varen stood up and shook Donavan and Jenna's hands saying, "I have truly misjudged you two. You have proven yourselves more than worthy of a promotion with this catch."

Their eyes widened the second they heard this while Perona felt absolutely appalled. Next thing they knew, Varen had assigned them the rank of generals, meaning they were now allowed to attend all Team Advent meetings and partake in every major assignment and their vacation could start whenever they pleased.

"I wasn't expecting this," Jenna said as she narrowed her eyes asking, "What's the catch?"

"You catching me a legendary Pokemon, of course," Varen replied as the duo's eyes widened. Perona couldn't believe this. How could they not know that Shaymin was legendary? Were they really that oblivious? Either way, for them to catch something so rare seemed like nothing more than a fluke and that angered the woman with a passion.

"As further payment for this miraculous job, I am going to reward you each with some extra firepower. You have certainly earned it."

"Sir, with all due respect," Perona remarked, "can these two really be trusted with some of our most powerful Pokemon?"

Varen simply turned to her with a look of disrespect and replied, "You have no right to question someone who made a better find than you did."

Perona couldn't believe this. Her boss had lost faith in her and it was all because of two bumbling idiots who happened to get lucky. She angrily left the room, refusing to make a big fuss out of this. To anger Varen could lower her rank and she didn't want that.

Donavan had received a dragon type Pokemon in the form of a cute sea serpent known as Dratini. Jenna's new Pokemon was a rhino-like Pokemon known as Rhyhorn.

Jacob, Izy, Anna and Lucario had wandered through the city admiring the amazing sights. See, it wasn't often that these three could be in a city. Anna bought a number of useless accessories at the mall and Jacob and Izy refused to object to this. At least she wasn't spending their money, right?

Izy bought a guide on flying Pokemon at a library and Jacob purchased a more improved guide on Pokemon. Maybe getting attack names right wouldn't be so hard from now on.

All that was left was to enjoy some ice cream that they bought at a parlor. Lucario's fell off the cone while Anna offered one of her five scoops.

"Are you sure you can handle more than two?" Izy asked as Anna nodded and said, "I can eat a whale if I wanted to."

Jacob seriously doubted that, but this was Anna after all. She was the same age as him, but her mind kind of worked like that of an 8-year-old. It was mostly a cute quality of hers.

But Izy sighed as she started to feel bored now. She looked around and said, "While we're waiting for that Jonathan guy to return, maybe you should train your Pokemon and get them ready."

Jacob gasped and got up saying, "You're right. There's a forest close by. Let's go there."

When they entered the nice wide-open space, Izy agreed to help Jacob train by having her Pokemon go up against his. The two stared each other down. This was it. For the first time, Jacob and Izy were going at it. Who would come out on top? It was anyone's game.

That all went into the gutter when green Pokemon with beetle wings and blades for arms known as a Scyther flew by. Izy knew that she just had to catch it, Jacob groaning.

"I thought we were supposed to be training!" he whined as Izy sent out Hoothoot to battle the Scyther stating, "If it can fly, it's mine. No one stands in my way, not even you."

Jacob knew that wasn't particularly true as she had allowed him to catch Heracross, but he decided not to question her logic. Hoothoot swooped towards Scyther, landing a powerful peck attack to its belly only to receive a series of slashes to the face as a result of an attack called Fury Cutter.

As Hoothoot's face bled, Izy smiled with confidence as she mouthed a command that once again only Hoothoot could make out. Her eyes glowed as the Scyther took in a world of pain from the owl's Confusion attack.

Seeing her opponent nice and weak, Izy sent out her Pokeball and consumed the Scyther. The Pokeball vibrated for a few seconds, but in the end the Scyther had been caught and Izy was most pleased with herself.

"Can we get back to training now?" Jacob asked, but before they could do so, they heard a loud voice shout, "EUREKA!!!!"

The group followed the sound to notice a young man with short brown hair and a rather tubby build looking at a strange plant. He picked it up and twirled his body around saying, "I've found the perfect herb."

He noticed four faces watching him with confusion and said, "I didn't see you there. My name's Jonathan."

Well, on the plus side, the group had found the gym leader. All three introduced themselves and Lucario and Jacob explained how he wanted a gym battle with the man. Jonathan was quite pleased to hear this.

"Well, Jacob, we should start that battle sooner than later," Jonathan said with a smile, "I've just been looking high and low for the perfect healing herb, and I have found it."

Jacob was a little disturbed by Jonathan's smile. It didn't seem to leave his face. Izy was a little annoyed by it but Anna felt right at home.

Unfortunately, just before they could head back to the gym, a certain duo appeared with evil smirks on their faces, Donavan saying, "Where do you think you're going?"

"Why can't you two just leave us alone!?" Jacob retorted while Jenna held out her finger saying, "That was quite rude of you."

"This shouldn't be a problem," Izy stated, "These two suck, remember?"

"I hate to ask, but who are these people?" Jonathan asked as Anna frowned saying, "Those guys are members of Team Advent! They're bad people!"

"Well," Jonathan said, his smile still not leaving his face but a Pokeball whipped out of his pocket, "if these two are members of the evil Team Advent, I'll gladly assist you."

Jenna was a little bit alarmed by this as Donavan once again seemed uninformed. She knew that this man with the three was Jonathan, one of the gym leaders.

Then something hit them, something both had failed to notice. The two turned their gaze to Jacob's side where a familiar-looking Pokemon stood with a look of anger.

"Oh no," Donavan said in fear, "This is not good. That Riolu evolved."

"No, this is good," Jenna replied, "If we capture a Lucario instead, the boss will love us even more."

"I'd like to see you try!" Jacob snapped as the two villains simply threw their Pokeballs forward.

There were the two usual Pokemon, Corpish and Glameow with them of course, but the other two were a surprised. Izy blinked and asked, "When did you get a Dratini?"

"Not to mention that Rhyhorn," Jacob added while Jonathan said, "Using both your Pokemon at once is unfair, so we'll even this up by having you face all four of us at once."

Jacob understood what he meant as he pulled out a Pokeball and said, "Sorry, Lucario, but I feel you've done enough for us so far," sending out Chimchar.

Chimchar's opponent was going to be Dratini, which may not have been the best idea but it just seemed right to the boy. Anna sent Geodude to go up against Corpish, which also seemed like a stupid idea as rock types were weak against water attacks.

Izy decided to test out her new Scyther on Glameow, which unlike the other two wasn't such a bad choice. Jonathan smiled and hurled his Pokeball forward shouting, "Go Ledyba!" a Ladybug-like Pokemon making a grand entrance.

Jacob had to admit, he expected better from a gym leader, but nevertheless, he saw Jonathan's grin and figured the man knew what he was doing. Chimchar leapt at Dratini who simply dodged to the side with its swift movement. Due to its serpent-like body, Dratini was very fast.

"Dratini, use Thunder Wave!" Donavan shouted as Dratini released a wave of electricity that his Chimchar. See, while thunder wave didn't necessarily deal damage, it had the ability to paralyze its target.

Dratini proceeded to perform slam on the paralyzed Pokemon, the monkey groaning in pain. Jacob was starting to worry until Chimchar got back up and unleashed a short flame that didn't seem to go very far. However, Chimchar spun her body around engulfing herself in the flame as it became a wheel. Jacob's eyes sparkled as Chimchar had taught herself Flame Wheel.

The wheel charged at Dratini who easily dodged to the wide only to be hit when Chimchar turned her wheel around striking the dragon in the back and knocking it out. Donavan groaned, but was even more worried when he saw Corpish being beaten by a series of tackle attacks by Geodude.

"CORPISH, USE BUBBLE!!!" the man snapped as the crap shot a group of bubbles into Geodude's face. Geodude groaned as he started to weaken, Anna starting to worry now.

Corpish then proceeded to deliver a series of Crab Hammers. Despite not looking like one, Crab Hammer was a water type move and seemed to be dealing quite a bit of damage as Geodude felt helpless to stop the onslaught.

Luckily, Glameow was having just as bad of luck as usual while Scyther had put a number of cuts all over her body. He crossed his blades delivering an X Strike as Glameow was about to pass out from the pain.

"Come on, Glameow, you can do it!" Jenna shouted but the cat could not sustain anymore and passed out.

Jonathan wasn't fairing quite as well as one would expect a gym leader to fair, especially considering he was using a flying bug Pokemon against a rhino. Jenna was at least pleased to see one of her Pokemon winning.

Rhyhorn rammed its horn into Ledyba causing some small bleeding, but Jonathan's smile was still on his face. No one knew if this was just a permanent deformity or what, but he seemed confident all the same.

"Ledyba, that's enough punishment," he said, "Use Comet Punch!"

Rhyhorn attempted to dodge the incoming super powered punch but it took it in full-force and was knocked unconscious. All that was left was Corpish, who surprisingly was still putting up a good fight.

Anna started to worry for the first time as she shouted, "GEODUDE, STOP GETTING YOUR BUTT KICKED!!!"

Geodude couldn't allow himself to let his master down, so he gritted his teeth and used his arms to force Corpish away from him, a suddenly feeling entering his body. Suddenly, his rock body became bigger and heavier and he sprouted two extra arms along with a pair of legs and now had a rather threatening grin on its face.

Anna's eyes sparkled as she shouted, "My Geodude evolved into Graveler! I'm so proud!"

Jacob and Izy were also relieved to see this as Lucario wiped the fear sweat off his forehead. Anna gave the command for Graveler to use Rollout as he rolled his body into a ball and rammed into his opponent like a bowling ball, knocking Corpish out for good.

Team Advent once again took off as Jenna let down tears shouting, "WE SHOULD HAVE WON THIS TIME!!!"

Jonathan laughed and said, "That was truly something. I look forward to that battle later."

But despite his smile, Jonathan really wished those two Team Advent members hadn't escaped. Like Izy, he hated them with a passion but for a much more simple reason, the fact that they were evil.

And so it was off to the gym for Jacob's second gym battle, but not after healing up from the battle first of course.


	9. Chapter 9

Pokemon Quest

Since there was no contest going on in town, Izy and Anna were both there to watch Jacob's gym battle. The boy felt a little more at peace with them around.

Jonathan stood tall with his creepy smile on saying, "You'd better not disappoint me, Jacob. If you do, it won't be nearly as fun."

Jacob had no intention of doing that as he felt very prepared. Jonathan was clearly a fan of bug types. How did he know this? It wasn't because Jacob used a bug type to help defeat Team Advent yesterday but rather the fact that the entire gym was an indoor forest. There were trees, pebbles and even a small pond. This was the perfect environment for bug types to fight in.

Jonathan whipped out a Pokeball and hurled it shouting, "GO LEDYBA!!!" the ladybug Pokemon appearing from its ball.

"I was actually expecting something new," Izy said, feeling rather disappointed while Anna's eyes were sparkling as if she'd never seen the Ledyba before, Izy slapping her forehead.

Jacob grinned, knowing exactly which Pokemon to use. Lucario simply stood there, feeling a big helpless as Jacob hurled a Pokeball sending in Chimchar who did a happy dance of some kind.

"Not bad," Jonathan said rubbing his chin, "You took full advantage of the fact that fire types have an advantage over bug types. This should be good."

"CHIMCHAR, USE EMBER!!!!" Jacob spat as Jonathan simply shouted his own command, "LIGHT SCREEN!!!!"

A bright light surrounded the ladybug as the flames hit, causing it to cringe. Yes it was still able to move as its shell opened up, its wings lifting it into the air.

"I see what he did there," Izy stated, "Light Screen cuts the damage dealt by special attacks in half, and since Chimchar's fire attacks are special attacks, Light Screen works well to negate the effects of them."

"Now that we got you an edge, let's do some damage," Jonathan said as he shouted a command, Ledyba soaring towards the monkey for a Tackle Attack.

Let's not forget that Chimchar was a monkey, therefore she was a fast Pokemon, so she easily dodged to the side as Ledyba simply shifted its body in that very direction the second Chimchar dodged.

The monkey and Jacob were wide-eyed by this. It seemed as if Ledyba knew Chimchar was going to dodge to that very side. The two could have contemplated this further had Ledyba not charged up its fist for a powerful punch known as Mach Punch, sending the monkey crashing into a tree.

"This is not good," Izy said with a look of worry. The smile on Jonathan's face may have just come naturally, but it looked as if Jonathan could read Jacob's moves. Sure, the ember at the start was obvious, but how could he predict exactly which side Chimchar would dodge to?

But Jacob saw this as an opportunity as he smiled and shouted, "Chimchar, use the tree!"

All but Jacob and Chimchar were surprised by this command as the monkey climbed up into the tree. Lucario watched this and figured that maybe he could do it too while Jonathan laughed.

"What a clever strategy!" he laughed, "I should have remembered that monkey could climb trees, but nevertheless, bugs can fly into them."

Ledyba realized what its master meant as it flew into the tree. But was this really an advantage for Chimchar? The last time he'd been stuck in a tree with a bug Pokemon, he ended up beaten pretty badly.

But there were no fighting sounds coming from the tree. Perhaps Chimchar had hidden better than she had against Heracross.

The gym was silent as everyone watched, just waiting for this intense moment to end. After a few seconds, a scratching sound was heard as Ledyba fell out of the tree, a scratch on its face.

"Wow, not bad," Jonathan said as he waited for Chimchar to fall out of the tree, but nothing seemed to be happening. It seemed the monkey was waiting for Ledyba to try again.

"So that's how that monkey wants to play it, eh?" Jonathan asked with a smirk, "Ledyba, flush it out with Silver Wind."

This was pretty alarming as Ledyba flapped its wings hard, the wings turning silver for a moment. The momentum released energy waves that had the power of blades. As the energy hit the tree, the branches started to cut in half and this continued until there were hardly any branches or leaves left, Chimchar falling back-side first into the ground, a bleeding cut across her chest.

This turn to events was unexpected. But then again, Jonathan was a gym leader and gym leaders had to be tough. Izy started to look worried as Lucario clung to Jacob's leg. Hey, he's still an infant. How do you expect him to act? Anna had a rather neutral look on her face as if she was unsure of how this would end.

Chimchar tried her hardest to ignore the pain as Jonathan laughed shouting, "Come on, give em another one!"

Ledyba started to release more waves of energy as Chimchar was hit by an onslaught of powerful wind. Cuts opened up all over her body as she fell on one knee breathing heavily. It was as if she was on the verge of death.

Jonathan saw this as he shouted in a scared tone, "OH SNAPS, I DIDN'T MEAN FOR IT TO DO THAT MUCH DAMAGE!!!!" his creepy smile still on his face.

Izy and Lucario both trembled as Jacob's eyes went wide. How could he allow Chimchar to succumb to such power? Perhaps the best bet would be to return the monkey now and get it all over with.

"Chimchar, you did very well," he said, "but now I think you should return."

But the monkey used what strength she had left to leap away from the beam coming from the ball. Jacob gritted his teeth shouting, "DON'T TRY TO BE A HERO!!! JUST RETURN!!!!"

Jonathan nodded, still smiling while he said, "It's best you return to your Pokeball, Chimchar."

But Chimchar glared angrily, refusing to back down now. Izy just had a pained look on her face and even Anna was frightened by the sight of Chimchar covered in so many cuts.

Surprisingly, Lucario wasn't all that scared anymore. After the event in the temple, he knew what Chimchar was feeling. The monkey didn't wish to let her master down, so she was willing to take in any amount of pain to make sure he earned his gym badge.

"If that's how you want to go about this," Jonathan said, "Ledyba, knock Chimchar out with a light tackle. There's no way she can dodge it."

And so Ledyba flew towards Chimchar who simply dodged to the side much to everyone's shock. And surprisingly, she made enough distance to avoid Ledyba unleashing plan B upon her. At this exact moment, Chimchar felt a great power flowing through her body.

Everyone stared in shock as her body grew taller. Her stub of a tail was now the kind one would expect from a monkey and the flame on her tail had doubled in length. Her small hands had become buff paws with fur surrounding the wrist unlike before when there was no fur at all around the hands. Her arms also had yellow stripes on them. Her legs hadn't changed too much but now her head was slightly bigger and more menacing and had a lot more fur on it. She also had blue and red markings like those of a baboon and a slick point of fur on the back of her head.

Izy's eyes widened as Jacob's eyes sparkled, the boy shouting, "My Chimchar's now a Monferno!" Anna's eyes sparkling as well.

Jonathan was truly impressed by this display. Such compassion Chimchar was showing for her master. She clearly wasn't going to stop until it was truly over.

All of her wounds seemed meaningless as she opened her mouth sending a flame around Ledyba's body. This was known as Fire Spin and it trapped the opponent within a ring of fire.

"Nice try," Jonathan said, "but Ledyba can fly."

However, Monferno had wanted the ladybug Pokemon to fly as she shot another ember attack, only it was much more powerful now that she had evolved. Despite the light screen's effect, Ledyba fell to the ground in defeat, Jonathan simply clapping with his smile still on his face.

"That was very well done," he praised, "But you still have two more of my Pokemon to deal with."

Jacob felt a little alarmed by these words, but he sighed as he figured he may as well go through with it. He pulled out Monferno's Pokeball and said, "I'm very proud of you, Monferno, but there's no way you can handle another opponent."

Monferno nodded, knowing that she couldn't continue and allowed herself to return to the ball, accepting the fact that Jacob wouldn't use her for the remainder of the gym battle. Izy let down a tear of joy while Anna simply smiled her calm smile. Things were finally looking up.

But with Monferno gone, how long could this upper hand last? Monferno had an advantage over bug types while Jacob's other Pokemon didn't. Nevertheless, he knew that he just had to do this if he was to achieve his goal.

His next Pokemon was Heracross who flew into a tree with a proud look. Jonathan looked very impressed as he said, "So you've chosen a bug type of your own. Not bad. Let's see how he deals with mine."

Jacob was a little confused by this statement as Jonathan threw a Pokeball releasing a Heracross of his own, this one with a bow tied to its horn. Jacob, Izy and Lucario were both shocked as Anna's eyes simply sparkled as usual.

Jacob blinked and said, "This is a shock," Jonathan pulling off his usual shirt while the people all freaked out, Lucario confused to the whole thing. If Pokemon could be naked in public, why couldn't humans?

Luckily, Jonathan had another shirt underneath. This shirt had a picture of a Heracross doing a heroic pose while a light shone behind it and there were words below it: "Heracross rocks my socks!!!!"

Jacob almost felt like he was going to cry. He had an all new admiration for the gym leader, one of which he'd never felt before.

"THIS IS SO AWESOME!!!" he shouted happily running over to Jonathan with a pen and paper, "It's so great to meet a fellow Heracross fan! Please, may I have your autograph!?"

Jonathan happily signed the paper, both Heracrosses, Lucario and Izy just staring dumbfounded by all of this. The gym leader let out a laugh saying, "There is no Pokemon quite like a Heracross. Its majesty, its might, and the fact that it's powerful despite only having one form! In my eyes, the mighty Heracross is more impressive than even the likes of a legendary Pokemon!"

Jacob let down tears of happiness almost breaking out into waterworks as he shouted, "I never thought I'd find someone who loves Heracross even more than I do! Can you…" and with sparkling eyes, he smiled and asked, "Can you evaluate my Heracross to see if I've done a good job with him?"

This was ridiculous. This was supposed to be a gym battle. Izy felt very annoyed by this, Lucario just confused. But while Jonathan's Heracross seemed rather ashamed of her trainer, Jacob's Heracross was feeling nervous. He would be evaluated by the biggest Heracross-loving geek in the world. What if Jonathan didn't like his appearance? What if he was shut-down as an ugly freak? He did, after all, have a chip in his horn. That could have hindered the final verdict!

Jonathan looked Heracross over and said, "Not too shabby. He certainly looks strong."

"Well, the first opponent he defeated under my wing was a rock type," Jacob said as Jonathan had to admit that was impressive.

He examined it more saying, "His shell is very strong and his wrists are most impressive. I especially love that chip in the top right corner of his horn. It makes him look very tough."

Heracross was so relieved that the gym leader thought that way that he let out a sigh of relief, wiping sweat off his forehead. Then Jonathan went back to his side of the gym while Jacob returned and the two bowed to each other, everyone else in the area just confused… except for Anna who thought the whole thing was touching.

"Let us begin, shall we?" Jonathan asked as he shouted, "HERACROSS, START OFF WITH LEER!!!"

"Use your Leer too!" Jacob spat as both Heracrosses' eyes glowed, each opponent's defense being cut in half. This meant the battle could end very quickly. Maybe even the first one to deliver a blow would end up the victor.

"Use Night Slash!" Jacob shouted as his Heracross slashed the female across the chest, but the female ignored the pain and heard her own master's command, delivering a fierce karate chop known as Brick Break.

Normally, this attack would deal more damage than Night Slash. Luckily, it hadn't dealt too much for bug types had an advantage over fighting type moves, so Heracross recovered far more quickly than the female had.

"Why did you think that move was a good idea?" Jacob asked as Jonathan replied, "That was just a test of endurance. Now for me to get serious. Heracross, use Aerial Ace!"

This wasn't a good sign. Aerial Ace was a flying type move, and bugs were very weak against these kinds of attacks whether a bird used it or not.

The male did his best to dodge it, but there was a problem with this. Aerial Ace could not be dodged no matter how hard the target tried. The only choice he had was to counter it, but before he and Jacob could even realize that, the male took in the fierce strike falling on his back and groaning in agony.

Now there was reason for worry again as Heracross had lost quite a bit of strength from that attack. Lucario was starting to look unsure while Anna had that neutral look on again. Izy put on a serious expression shouting, "Heracross can take more than that!"

Jacob smiled in response to this statement. Izy may have been right. Heracross could handle this sort of thing, and it was shown when the Hercules beetle stood up tall and proud clearly not letting up just yet.


	10. Chapter 10

Pokemon Quest

Jacob grinned as things were starting to look up. After that last attack, he thought Heracross had been defeated, but instead the male had survived the flying attack.

Nevertheless, he was still breathing pretty heavily, but Jacob knew he could pull through as he shouted, "Heracross, let's go in with a Horn Attack!"

Heracross sped towards the female with his horn lowered as Jonathan smiled and gave the command to dodge it. The female dodged to the right catching Heracross off guard and charged towards the male, preparing a Tackle Attack.

Jacob grinned and shouted, "LET'S GO FOR ANOTHER HORN ATTACK!!!" as Heracross nodded in understanding and turned to the female with his horn out thus causing her to slam head-first into it, a small cut appearing between her eyes while a green substance trickled down from it.

"Not bad," Jonathan said with his smile never ending as always, "That was a very smart strategy, using my Heracross' momentum against her. But that doesn't matter to me anyway. Heracross, use Aerial Ace again!"

Things had gotten alarming again as the female flapped her wings and soared towards the male Heracross. What was the Hercules beetle to do now?

Lucario clung to Jacob's leg while trembling. Izy had a worried look on while Anna's facial expression was once again neutral. If this landed, Jacob's Heracross would surely fall to the hands of Jonathan's.

Suddenly, something came over Heracross as his horn started to glow. When the female was only a mere second away from hitting him, he threw the horn out bashing it into the female's face causing her to fly into a pebble, breaking it to pieces upon collision.

"That was far more powerful than Horn Attack!" Izy exclaimed as Jacob's eyes sparkled, the boy shouting, "My own Heracross knows Megahorn! I'm so happy!"

Jonathan laughed feeling very impressed by this but also quite envious. Even his female Heracross, who had seen far more battles than Jacob's, didn't know that move.

However, while Megahorn was a large upgrade from the usual Horn Attack, unlike Horn Attack it was a bug type move. This meant that the damage dealt by it had been cut in half when it hit a fellow Heracross. As such, the female was still standing.

"You've done a good job with that Heracross of yours," Jonathan said with his same creepy smile, "but it would seem that now would be the time to finish this. Heracross, use tackle!"

Why would Jonathan choose such a weak move at this point? Nevertheless, it was a predictable attack, so Heracross could easily dodge it. However, this was not the case as the second Heracross attempted to dodge the attack, the female changed her strategy and sent five consecutive punches to the male's gut. This was known as Fury Attack.

Heracross looked like he was about to pass out, Jacob biting his lip with anticipation, Lucario once again nervous and Izy with a worried look. Anna was once again neutral. It was truly amazing that it was even remotely possible for her to get upset, wasn't it?

Despite the pain Heracross was feeling, he managed to muster up the strength to smack his horn down upon the female's head. Both of them had swirling eyes as they fell to the ground, neither able to stand up.

"I simply can't believe it!" Jonathan exclaimed while laughing, "The battle ended in a tie! You did train that Heracross well!"

Jacob couldn't believe it. He managed to match blows with a fellow Heracross lover in battle. This was truly the best day of his life.

He let down tears of joy, returning his Heracross and said, "You did great, Heracross! I promise I will work harder, and someday my Heracross will be strong enough to beat yours, Jonathan!"

Jonathan, creepy smile and all, returned his own Heracross saying, "I look forward to that day, Jacob. I really do."

Izy rolled her eyes, rather annoyed by all these fan boy moments Jacob was having. Nevertheless, she was just glad that he'd managed to defeat Jonathan's Heracross. The only problem was that now, both only had one Pokemon left.

Jonathan pulled out his last Pokeball and hurled it shouting, "GO, SCIZOR!!!"

With that, a red bug Pokemon that resembled Scyther with claws instead of blades appeared. This was Scyther's second form, Scizor.

"No way!" Izy shouted as she said, "That's what my new Scyther can become."

Anna's eyes sparkled at the sight of it while Jacob put on a serious look and smiled at Lucario, who nodded in understanding and entered the battle area. Jonathan had actually hoped for the battle to be this way. He wanted to not only show off all of his Pokemon but also see all of Jacob's at full strength, and with both previous battles in a row ending like a draw, his idea of the perfect gym battle was finally happening before him.

"You are a very impressive trainer," he said, "I am honored to have had you as an opponent."

Then he got serious again and shouted, "SCIZOR, USE QUICK ATTACK!!!"

Scizor charged towards Lucario who knew that he couldn't possibly dodge this move, so Jacob commanded him to do the same. Both Quick attacks collided, each elbow ramming into the other while both leapt away from one-another taking minimal damage from the move.

"Good job, Lucario!" Jacob shouted before flipping through his guidebook. He wanted to know just what Lucario could use for this battle. Lucario's best attacks were mostly fighting types and that wasn't good enough, and Quick Attack only seemed like a waste of effort.

While he flipped through the book, Jonathan shouted a command as Scizor charged towards Lucario with his claws crossed, the infant dodging to the side and Scizor chopping down a tree with X-Scissor.

At this moment, Jacob found the perfect move and shouted, "Lucario, use Dark Pulse!"

Dark Pulse was a Dark type move. While it was smart of Jacob to avoid using fighting moves, Dark attacks didn't have much of an effect on bug types either.

Lucario unleashed a dark aura that composed of negative thoughts. Scizor tried to dodge the aura, but Dark Pulse couldn't miss unless Lucario's accuracy had been thrown off, so Scizor took in the blow and groaned in agony. Despite this success, Izy pinched her forehead with an angry expression thinking, 'Was that really the right time to consult the guidebook?'

"That's the stuff!" Jacob shouted as he next ordered Lucario to use an attack called Feint.

This was a normal attack, so it was more effective, but Jonathan was ready for this one as he shouted, "SCIZOR, DON'T LET HIM HIT YOU!" the winged bug nodding and countering with a series of slashes from his claws.

The Fury cutter had created a few cuts on Lucario's body, but the infant was not ready to give up just yet. See, bug type attacks were weak against Lucario, so this was no problem.

Lucario's eyes glowed violet much to Jonathan's surprise as he leapt at Scizor, a dark energy claw surrounding his paw. Jonathan was too spellbound by this sudden action to give Scizor any commands as the bug took in the powerful slash, three cuts forming on its chest.

"Was that Shadow Claw?" Jonathan asked, his smile still on his face as Anna's eyes sparkled. Even she was aware that Lucario couldn't just learn Shadow Claw.

Jacob had to admit, this was unexpected. It had been a while since the infant had used that. Just how did it work?

He could have gone further into this, but Scizor was still in good enough condition to keep battling. Jonathan still had his creepy smile on while he shouted, "SCIZOR, USE METAL CLAW!!!"

Scizor charged at Lucario as his claws became metal, but just as this was about to hit, Lucario, despite having no orders to do so, turned his own claws metal and both sent simultaneous slashes to each other, Lucario's paws colliding with Scizor's claws.

Anna's eyes once again sparkled as Izy looked at this with uncertainty. While Quick attack was a rather generic move, Metal Claw wasn't, so this was anyone's game now.

The standoff lasted for a good minute and a half until Lucario started to weaken, Scizor overcoming his attack and sending him flying into a tree. Jacob's eyes widened as Anna took on her neutral expression and Izy cringed.

Lucario rubbed his head in pain as Jacob noticed the pond right next to him. He grinned and said, "Lucario, look beside you."

The infant looked to the right and noticed the pond blinking. Jonathan wouldn't allow any plans to work that easily, so he shouted a command, Scizor flying towards Lucario with an X-Scissor prepared.

Suddenly, Lucario started to understand as he dove under the water, Scizor pausing midway and trembling, not even daring to get closer. This seemed to have frightened it.

"I get it," Izy explained, "Winged creatures can't go in water, so by diving under the water, he rendered Scizor useless."

Jonathan laughed as he exclaimed, "You impress me more and more all the time, Jacob!"

"It doesn't just end there," Jacob said, "You and I both know that Lucario can't stay underwater forever."

That was true. Lucario was a mammal, after all, so he needed to be above water to breathe. And rise up her did, but this was a surprise. Jacob had planned for Lucario to splash Scizor in the eyes with water, but this was much more effecting.

Lucario's eyes were glowing blue as he rose up while riding atop the water, which was now in the form of a tidal wave. There was just no way he could be using this attack. Jacob and Izy's eyes went wide, Jonathan still having that creepy smile on, while Anna smiled warmly, not questioning the logic behind this at all.

Lucario had set himself up to use Surf, one of the most powerful Water attacks in existence. As the name implied, this attack involved a Pokemon controlling water to create a tidal wave and unleash it upon the opponent.

The entire area was silent as Lucario hit Scizor, who was too shocked to even attempt dodging the attack and knocked the bug Pokemon out for good. Jonathan quietly returned Scizor, his smile still on his face as he slowly clapped.

Jacob smiled as Izy and Anna joined Jonathan in giving Jacob applause. The boy blushed and said, "Hey, it was all Lucario. I didn't know he could use that."

Jonathan walked over to Jacob handing him a badge that resembled a Heracross' head saying, "That Lucario of yours is very unique. You are very lucky to have him in your team."

And there was much rejoicing afterwards. Jonathan waved goodbye to Jacob when he left the gym and the boy took his Pokemon to the centre to be healed. Izy still couldn't believe that ending while Anna had her calm smile that she was known for.

Jacob sat in the waiting room in the centre while his Pokemon were being healed, looking rather down. Izy looked at him and asked, "What's wrong?"

"It's this whole thing with Lucario," the boy replied, "I need to know how he's able to use these attacks and why he can't seem to control them."

"I'm sure these answers will come in due time," Izy replied placing a hand on his shoulder, "Just celebrate your second Gym Badge. That's what you wanted, right?"

Izy was right. Jacob needed to look on the bright side of things. He had taken another step to becoming a true champion.


	11. Chapter 11

Pokemon Quest

And so the group of young teens was back on the road, Jacob with a proud look on his face and Lucario walking alongside him. Izy was getting a little anxious while Anna had her usual smile on.

"What's up, Izy?" Jacob asked as the girl replied, "A contest is being held in the next town and I can't wait to enter in it."

This wasn't too inconvenient as the next town, Grazzalia, didn't have a gym. This way, Jacob could actually see Izy's contest in its entirety this time around.

While the group walked along, they came across a small lake. Jacob sniffed his armpits and gagged suggesting, "Hey, guys, should we have a bath here?"

Izy stared at Jacob, eyes twitching while the boy seemed a bit out of the loop. What was so bad about bathing?

Anna smiled and said, "Sure," taking off her clothes almost instantaneously, Jacob understanding Izy's response and letting down a slight nosebleed, Lucario a bit confused. Pokemon were naked most of their lives if not all the time, so how was it any different for humans?

After a little while, Izy was convinced that she also needed to wash herself off and the entire group got in the bath, Jacob subjected to the other side of the lake so he couldn't be near the bathing girls. Lucario, curious as could be, swam back and forth trying to figure out the reason seeing the opposite gender in the nude was such a big deal.

Being a Pokemon, and an infant at that, he saw nothing wrong with it. Sure, he noticed significant differences between each gender's body structures, but he failed to understand why Jacob couldn't look at a naked girl and vice versa.

Izy sighed, admitting that the warm temperature of the lake was quite soothing when Anna splashed her in the face with a playful smile. Izy got up and started a splash fight with her, Jacob watching them and letting down tears.

"I wanna join in their splash fight too!" he whined. But while the girls splashed each other, Lucario joining in on the fun since he was allowed to, a large body of water shot up and soaked each of them from head to toe.

Jacob ran over with a look of panic on his face shouting, "GIRLS, WHAT HAPPENED HERE!!!?" Izy slapping him hard in the face shouting, "GET BACK TO YOUR SIDE!!!!"

"That was fun," Anna said with a warm smile while the two just looked at her, blinking until Lucario was sent into the side of the lake by a small blast of water.

The others climbed out, wrapping towels around themselves and looked carefully for what had caused this. Lucario's eyes widened as he pointed in the water, a light-brown weasel Pokemon with two tails poking its head up with a playful grin on its face.

Jacob and Anna's eyes sparkled as they shouted, "It's a Buizel!" Anna adding, "It's so cute!"

The Buizel turned around and slapped its tails against the water letting loose a shockwave known as Sonic Boom. The Sonic Boom carried some water with it, so despite it missing the others completely, it did splash them a little.

Izy groaned and said, "Let's just go. We're clean enough, right?"

"We're not leaving yet," Jacob remarked, Izy staring at him as Anna nodded and said, "I understand. You want to catch that Buizel."

"That's right!" Jacob replied with sparkling eyes, "Buizel is another one of those Pokemon I've always wanted! They're just so… beautiful…"

Izy smacked her forehead, knowing she could do nothing about it as she walked away saying, "I'm gonna go change first."

Buizel grinned and released another Sonic Boom that passed right by Izy, blowing her towel off as she fumed at the head. She didn't want this thing in the group.

The Buizel broke out into hysterics as Anna smiled and said, "Such odd behavior from a fellow female."

"How can you tell that Buizel's a girl?" Jacob asked as Anna replied, "I just know these things."

Jacob thought hard about what the most effective Pokemon would be against a Buizel. Well, he had nothing with a big advantage over water types, so he simply turned to Lucario and said, "Go get her!"

Lucario nodded and dove into the water swimming towards Buizel, who grinned wickedly. The weasel Pokemon circled around Lucario at an incredible speed, using her tails as a propeller like the kind you see on motor boats. Unbeknownst to the infant, Buizel was mustering up a whirlpool and was soon trapped within it.

Jacob's eyes went wide as he shouted, "LUCARIO, GET OUT OF THAT!!!"

Lucario started to put the pedal to the metal as he swam as hard as he could to fight the current, but the whirlpool was too strong and Buizel was having a blast from this. The weasel laughed so hard, tears came from her eyes.

At this very moment, Izy returned with her clothes on now as her eyes went wide. Lucario was doing horribly and all that Buizel could do was laugh like a maniac.

"This looks bad," she said as Jacob nodded, then Izy narrowed her eyes and said, "You know both of you are still in your towels, right?"

"Yeah," Jacob replied as Anna smiled adding, "We know."

Izy sighed, shaking her head. Did these two have no shame whatsoever? Nevertheless, Lucario eventually became so fed that his eyes glowed blue just like they had during the previous gym battle.

Buizel stopped laughing and stared with her eyes wide open, Lucario transforming the whirlpool into his own tidal wave. He launched it towards his opponent hitting Buizel hard, but in the process took things a little overboard, hitting the humans with it except for Izy who'd seen it coming.

Luckily, their towels had stayed on, but now the towels were pretty useless as they were soaked too. What was worse was that the surf attack seemed to have had no effect on Buizel as she rose up from the water, clapping her hands as if she wanted another run.

"This is getting ridiculous," Izy said as Jacob nodded saying, "You're right, this has gone on long enough. Lucario, use Aura Sphere!"

Lucario nodded and cupped his hands together, forming a powerful ball of energy and hurled it at Buizel who was too joyful to notice the orb coming at her. The ball hit her dead on creating an explosion while she skidded across the lake to the other side, her head slamming hard against the edge of the lake.

The group quickly ran over to the other side while Buizel really seemed to be out cold. That Aura Sphere had really pulled a number on her.

"At least it's over," Izy said, "Quick, Jacob, use your Pokeball!"

Jacob nodded and pulled out a Pokeball only for Buizel's body to twitch as the weasel regained consciousness, climbing up out of the water with anger on her face. This was clearly no longer a game to her.

"There we go," Jacob said with a grin as Izy nodded and replied, "With Buizel on land, Lucario should have an easier time beating it."

"Buizel's a her!" Jacob and Anna replied in unison, Izy certain that the weasel was a male after it played a boyish joke on her.

Jacob shouted a command as Lucario charged at Buizel preparing a force palm, but the weasel simply sidestepped it, ramming her elbow into Lucario's side for a quick attack. The weasel then released a water gun from its mouth blasting Lucario into a tree, the infant groaning in pain.

"Don't let her get to you!" Jacob snapped, Lucario rising to his feet. But Buizel simply grinned and surrounded her body with water and rushed towards the infant. This was an attack known as Aqua Jet and 99% of the time, it never missed its prey.

Jacob knew that his only option was to counter it, so he shouted, "LUCARIO, HIT HER WITH ANOTHER AURA SPHERE!!!"

But as the sphere was launched, the shield of water around Buizel seemed to soften the blow by a lot as the weasel rammed her head into Lucario's tummy. Lucario breathed heavily, feeling rather weak now.

"Jacob, why not just give up on catching Buizel?" Izy asked as Jacob shook his head saying, "I've waited too long for an opportunity like this. Lucario, you've faced worse! Don't give up just yet!"

The infant's eyes went wide as he rose to his feet, his eyes glowing red. Buizel's eyes struck fear once again as Lucario proceeded to deliver a fierce onslaught of attacks only known as Reversal.

Buizel felt a lot of pain from this move as her eyes spun, the weasel collapsing on the spot. This was it, Jacob's chance to catch this troublemaker.

He whipped out his Pokeball and hurled it at the weasel as a light consumed her within the ball. The Pokeball swayed back and forth for a little while, but eventually stopped as Buizel's capture was official.

Jacob and Anna rejoiced, both doing a happy dance together as Izy just groaned thinking, 'Well, at least he's happy.'

Jacob and Anna both finally put their clothes back on and didn't need the towels anymore, and it was back to adventure. With a water type in his team, perhaps Jacob's battles would be a bit easier now. Who knew what kind of asset Buizel would be?

We now take you to Donavan and Jenna who were in a battle with a trainer who seemed to be in possession of a rare Pokemon knock as Larvitar. It was like a small dinosaur-type creature with a stubby horn atop its head.

The other trainer gritted his teeth as Larvitar was currently being overpowered by Corpish, Dratini, Rhyhorn and Glameow, but then gritted his teeth shouting, "USE HYPER BEAM!!!"

Larvitar opened its mouth shooting a powerful beam hitting all four who were dumb enough to be standing close enough to each other as they all fell to the ground. "No, we were so close!" Jenna cried as the boy held onto his Larvitar shouting, "Get lost or I'll call the authorities!"

But much to all three humans' surprise, the four Team Advent Pokemon seemed to have survived the attack. This was something as Hyper Beam was one of the most powerful attacks in existence.

The truth was, they had technically lost, but their hearts were telling them otherwise. They'd grown so fed up with failure, that they couldn't accept the fact that their bodies couldn't handle anymore.

"They're doing this all for us," Donavan stated as Jenna sniffed saying, "I'm so touched."

What happened next was a huge shock. Glameow let out a loud battle cry as her body expanded to 6 times its original weight and had the build to prove it. Her ears were much longer than before and her fur was now like the sky, light blue with a mix of the white color clouds normally had. With her whiskers coming out of her cheeks, Glameow had evolved into Purugly.

The same seemed to be happening with Corpish as his body became a bit longer. His back legs also seemed to become bigger and stronger while his front legs remained the same but developed spikes on the front of them. His shell had reconstructed itself to look more like a gaping mouth with fangs and the white on his chest now had two additional blue stripes. With a shining star atop his forehead, Corpish had become Crawdaunt.

Dratini also changed as her serpent-like body became twice as long as it was before. The white in some spots had been replaced with an ocean-blue color and her tail and neck now had blue pearls on them. She also had what looked like wings on the sides of her head and a horn at the top. She had become Dragonair.

Rhyhorn also started to change and far more significantly than the others. He had gone from relying on four legs to only needing two, developing a pair of strong arms and a set of claws on the end of each. His horn was much longer and had turned from matching his grey skin color to white and looked like the end of a drill. He also had a long tail now. Rhyhorn had evolved into Rhydon.

Donavan and Jenna couldn't have been happier, and soon enough, Larvitar had been defeated and was now there's to take to Varen, the trainer just standing there, wide-eyed and jaw dropped.

"NOOOO!!!!" he cried into the sky after they'd left, and at this very moment, Perona peered behind a bush at the young boy who had been rumored to own a rare Larvitar.

She walked over to him and snapped, "Give me your Larvitar right away!" as the boy glared shouting, "You're too late! Someone else already stole him from me!"

Perona bit her lip thinking, 'No, even with the new Pokemon, Donavan and Jenna couldn't have stolen it. It must have been one of the other generals."

But she didn't know that sometimes, luck was on the evil duo's side, and today Lady Luck had certainly paid them a visit.


	12. Chapter 12

Pokemon Quest

The group arrived in the small town of Grazzalia where lots of grass grew. The entire town was just covered with the stuff. Even the houses were all painted green to match the color of the grass. In the middle of this town was a contest stadium, the only building that wasn't green.

"Well, here we are," Izy said with a grin, "Wish me the best of luck."

Jacob nodded as Anna looked at the stadium saying, "This looks pretty intriguing."

"What are you getting at?" Jacob asked as Anna smiled warmly saying, "I wouldn't mind being in a contest myself."

Jacob rolled his eyes as Lucario was a bit confused. Was Anna implying that just anyone could enter a contest?

Turns out she couldn't just join. What was required for contests was a special license. Jacob figured that Anna was just wasting her efforts until he discovered that she did, indeed, have one of these licenses.

"When did you get that?" he asked, eyes twitching as Anna smiled warmly after registering and explained, "I got it from Rowerberg. They sell contest coordinator licenses there. I figured I might use one someday."

Jacob rolled his eyes and smiled, shaking his head. Anna always seemed to have a positive outlook on just about everything.

And with that, Jacob and Lucario were sitting in the audience to cheer their friend on. A woman stood up on a stage and shouted, "Welcome to the Grazzalia Pokemon Contest! You all look lovely today! I hope you're ready for some exciting contest action because it's time to get it underway!"

The crowd clapped in response as the woman bowed and called up the contestants. One-by-one, various different people came on stage to show off their Pokemon's talents. Soon enough, Izy was up.

Jacob simply cheered her on as she let loose her newest Pokemon, Scyther. The bug Pokemon did a bit of aerial ballet impressing the crowd greatly. A big part of contests was to look good, and Izy had made sure ahead of time that Scyther would wow the crowd with his skills.

"Scyther, use Agility!" Izy shouted as the bug sped through the sky at amazing speed leaving behind a trail of white light, impressing the crowd.

Izy mouthed some other commands as Scyther nodded and used his X Strike to leave behind a red X in the sky. He then finished off with Wing Attack, running into the X and splitting it up into little particles that sprinkles all over the arena, the crowd marveling at the sight of it all.

After a couple more entries, it was Anna's turn. Jacob was interested to see how Anna would handle a contest. Her Pokemon seemed more designed for battling, and he and Lucario both knew that Nosepass would be far too big for the stage.

"Go, Graveler!" Anna shouted releasing Graveler who used two of his four arms to perform a handstand and clapped his feet together, the audience rather thrilled at the sight of this. Jacob had to admit, that was impressive.

The crowd was interested when the contest staff placed twenty rocks on the stage. Anna smiled warmly thanking them for fulfilling a request that she had made and commanded Graveler to use rock throw. The rocks all piled up to form what looked like a man made entirely out of stone.

"Good job, Graveler!" Anna shouted, "Now use Earthquake!"

Everyone was alarmed by the sound of this. What if an Earthquake destroyed the stage? Well, the stage luckily stayed up while the Earthquake managed to destroy the stone man, the rocks flying through the sky and out of the stadium like jets.

The crowd clapped for what was quite an original act from Anna who bowed along with her Graveler, a warm smile on her face. It felt good to receive so much praise.

And after a few more, Roxanne was last. The girl entered the stadium and looked up at Jacob waving and shouting, "HI, JACOB!!!! YOU CAME TO SEE LITTLE OLD ME AGAIN!!!! HOW SWEET!!!!!"

Lucario and Jacob all groaned really wishing they'd seen this coming. The girl held up a Pokeball and threw it into the air calling out a bird carrying a leak known as Farfetch'd. The bird didn't seem to put much effort into his entrance as Anna looked with concern.

"Now, Farfetch'd, don't disappoint me," she said as the bird Pokemon rolled his eyes. He really didn't want to be in a contest. But he knew that if he didn't try, Roxanne would never shut up about it.

"Use Fury Cutter!" the girl shouted as Farfetched swung his leaf around rapidly. Sadly, that was pretty much it. No impressive sparkly effects or anything were added to the mix and the crowd was growing bored already.

"Not bad," Roxanne said, "but could you try a little harder with Aerial Ace?"

Farfetch'd glared at her, making it known that he hadn't learned Aerial Ace yet. Soon enough, Anna's time was up as the crowd sighed, really let down by this performance after all the good ones prior.

Roxanne sighed, returning her Farfetch'd and said, "Perhaps he's sick," exiting the arena, Jacob sighing with relief. Now he didn't have to see her in every round.

And so the contest went into the tournament battles portion in which trainers didn't win for beating opponents but rather for looking good while battling. The participants were picked based off of the half that had actually passed the first part of the contest. Luckily, Anna and Izy had managed to make it and Jacob and Lucario cheered with all their might for the two. Now Jacob was actually intrigued, wishing he'd joined the contest too.

The order was picked completely at random by a machine and first up was Anna and a young country boy named Steven. His Pokemon was a rose-like creature known as Roselia.

Anna knew perfectly well that Nosepass wasn't build for contest battles, so she once again sent out Graveler. Now, if this was an actual battle, Graveler would have been under a disadvantage as Roselia was a plant type. But luckily, this was a contest, so that didn't matter too much.

"Use Stun Spore!" Steven shouted as the rose Pokemon released an orange power into the sky. The powder rained down upon the arena, the audience truly wowed, but seemed to have no effect on Graveler.

"Graveler, use Rock Blast followed by Roll Out!" Anna commanded as the boulder Pokemon shot a series of rocks from his palms at Roselia. The rose Pokemon dodged a couple but was hit by the other three. Then Geodude rolled towards her like a bowling ball, leaving behind a lovely trail on the ground and smacked into Roselia, proceeding to form a heart shape while the rose was recovering.

The audience was really loving this, but just how long could this last? This was answered when Roselia finally recovered from Roll Out and unleashed Magical Leaf, sending a series of leaves with a black aura surrounding them towards Graveler and dealing major damage while also looking beautiful.

With all said and done, Roselia and Steven ended up claiming this victory as Jacob and Lucario sighed. Anna just smiled her warm smile and congratulated her opponent. She wasn't the kind to lose her temper over a loss.

After a few more rounds, it was Izy versus a dashing man named Chester. His Pokemon was Mr. Mime, an odd creature that was dressed more like a clown than an actual mime.

Luckily, flying types weren't all too helpless around Mr. Mime, and she had a psychic type of her own. The crowd cheered when she sent out Hoothoot, who perched himself on the ground with one leg.

"Use Peck!" Izy shouted as the Hoothoot soared towards the mime Pokemon, its beak out and a trail of light following it. Chester simply had Mr. Mime unleash a powerful psychic attack simply called Psychic.

The mime's eyes glowed as Hoothoot stopped midway and let out a cry, but luckily, flying types weren't exactly vulnerable to psychic attacks, so Chester's moment in the spotlight wouldn't last too long.

Hoothoot's eyes glowed a beautiful blue color letting off what looked like stage lights as Mr. Mime succumbed the Confusion attack. Before he could respond, Hoothoot went in for another peck, this time landing the blow while the crowd cheered.

The battle raged on for another couple of minutes. At times, Mr. Mime would gain control, but most of the time, Hoothoot was just dominating the battle and ended up winning his master the first round.

"WAY TO GO, IZY!!!!" Jacob shouted excitedly as Lucario clapped happily for his friend.

After a while, it was finally time for the final round. Izy had fought well and hard and ended up successful in each battle. Her last opponent was a lovely young girl named Jessica.

The crowd cheered as she summoned a small salamander-like Pokemon with a flaming tail known as Charmander. Anna, now a member of the crowd, had sparkling eyes as did Jacob. Not only was Charmander super cute, it was also rare.

Izy's Pokemon for the last round was her Beedrill. Many were rather confused by this choice. Beedrill was not only a flying type but a bug type, meaning she had a weakness to fire. Nevertheless, this was not a regular battle, so Izy had no reason to worry.

"Use Flamethrower!" Jessica shouted as the salamander opened its mouth releasing a beautiful flame. As part of the contest version of the attack, Charmander shifted its mouth to split the flame into three smaller flames, impressing the crowd.

Izy mouthed a command as Beedrill nodded and threw the needles on its arms forward, delivering its Twineedle attack on the middle flame. The hard needles split the flame creating four smaller ones that traveled around the bee's body. The crowd was very impressed as Beedrill had just turned her opponent's attack against him, making herself look more impressive in the process.

The flames then surrounded her body spinning like a drill. Once would think this would be bad for Beedrill, but the bee Pokemon was making sure the flames didn't touch her and rammed her body into Charmander, who was too shocked by this action to respond to it.

Jessica's eyes went wide as Charmander groaned, the girl smiling and saying, "Not bad, but let's see how you handle Fire Spin!"

Charmander then shot a ring of fire below Beedrill. Izy rolled her eyes in response to this. What a stupid move on the girl's part. Beedrill was already off the ground, so Jessica couldn't even take advantage of this like Jacob had with Chimchar's battle against Ledyba.

"USE DRAGON RAGE ON THE FIRE!!!" the girl shouted much to everyone's shock. Charmander opened his mouth unleashing a big blue flame to the ring of fire making it a beautiful mix of the two colors, but also added to its power as it rose up into the sky surrounding the bee Pokemon.

Lucario started to tremble as Jacob had a look of worry. Anna now had her neutral face on as the Jessica had her Charmander shoot a flamethrower at the flaming tornado, thus forming a spiral of flames around it. This was truly a sight to behold, but the best was yet to come as the flames moved inward, Beedrill unable to escape while they scorched her body.

The crowd cheered wildly except for Jacob, Lucario and Anna who were rather disappointed by this result. Izy had lost the final round and Jessica accepted her contest ribbon.

Jacob waited outside with the others for Izy, and when the girl emerged, he walked up to her and embraced her saying, "It's okay, Izy. We don't hate you for losing."

"You better not," Izy replied while laughing, "Don't worry about me. Everyone loses at one point or another. This one contest loss isn't going to crush my spirits. It just means I have to practice harder."

As long as she wasn't too upset, Jacob figured it wasn't worth dwelling over. Anna was just happy to have participated in the contest at all. All in all, it was a fun experience and now the group was back on the road, headed to the next town known as Narunia.

Meanwhile, at the Team Advent head quarters, Donavan and Jenna had just presented their stolen Larvitar to Varen. The man laughed, feeling so happy at the moment and said, "Well, you two have certainly caught yourselves an excellent find. I can't believe I used to look down upon you."

The duo simply smiled feeling as if they could conquer anything. They'd gone from failures to successes just like that and they could only hope their success would continue. The only problem was they still hadn't captured that Lucario, but with their Pokemon evolved, maybe they could now.


	13. Chapter 13

Pokemon Quest

And so our young adventurers were on the road again headed off to a town known as Mossberg. There, the third gym leader would be waiting and Jacob was determined to earn his third gym badge.

While they traveled through a mountainous region, Perona was walking around holding a radar she shifted her eyes back and forth thinking, 'I know that Heatran is supposed to be here.'

Heatran was a legendary Pokemon with fire and steel attributes. It was claimed to live in mountainous areas, and it seemed as if Perona had locked onto which mountain he was living in.

The woman had a radar with her so finding Heatran would be easy, however she was still having trouble finding the beast. Just where was this thing?

She then heard footsteps approaching her and hid behind a rock. She peered around the corner noticing three kids walking by. She thought nothing of them until she saw a Lucario walking with them.

She grinned wickedly thinking, 'That's the Lucario that Donavan and Jenna have so much trouble getting. If I catch it, maybe Varen will start paying attention to me again.'

The woman leapt out from behind the rock and pointed at the kids shouting, "STOP RIGHT THERE!!!"

The group turned to the source of the voice as Jacob tilted his head asking, "How can we help you, Miss?"

"Shut up and surrender that Lucario to me!" the woman snapped, "I am Perona, the top general of Team Advent! If you hand over that Lucario, I'll leave you be!"

Hearing that name made Izy furious. It was bad enough that Donavan and Jenna were after them, but now this other woman had just appeared out of nowhere. And I'm sure we all know of Izy's deep hatred of Team Advent.

"You'll never have Lucario!" Jacob snapped as the woman grimaced, "Either beat it or we'll have to use force!"

"That's what I like to hear," Perona said with a grin as she pulled out a Pokeball and hurled it in front of the group, a large dinosaur-like creature emerging. Its head was similar to that of a hammerhead shark only the sides were shaped like rocket thrusters. (Not that they are, they just look like it) Its entire body was blue and its tail had four spikes coming out of it. Its arms each had two spikes as did its skinny legs and instead of hands, it only had large claws. Hanging from each arm was a big flap of skin that kind of resembled a shark fin and its back had something similar coming out of it. Its chest was also red with a yellow spot at the bottom.

"I can't believe it," Jacob said, eyes wide while Izy trembled asking, "Is that a Garchomp?"

"You have good eyes," Perona said with a grin, "Yes, this is indeed a Garchomp. Its seen many battles and developed lot of power. Do you think you're up to the challenge?"

Jacob nodded with a look of determination, Perona excited to see Lucario in action. But instead of choosing Lucario, Jacob sent Buizel.

Perona groaned, looking disappointed, but she decided to accept this anyway. Jacob figured that Buizel deserved her first battle now.

"Buizel, use Water Gun!" Jacob shouted as Buizel shot a blast of water from her mouth. Perona simply gave Garchomp a command as he easily dodged the incoming blast of water and bit hard into the weasel's skull. This was simply known as Chomp.

Buizel started to bleed from the pressure of it all as Jacob quickly returned her to the Pokeball. He knew Garchomp was a tough Pokemon, but Perona had really trained this one well.

"Alright, maybe Buizel's not strong enough," he said, "but maybe I should try a Pokemon who's already evolved!"

This was it. Perona was going to face Lucario. But that went down the drain as his next Pokemon was Monferno. This was getting rather irritating.

"That's not such a great choice," Izy stated, "Monferno's fast, but Garchomp a dragon type. That makes it strong against fire attacks."

And this was certainly a true statement, but Jacob knew this as well as he barked, "MONFERNO, HIT IT WITH SCRATCH!!!!"

However, despite her amazing speed, Monferno wasn't able to land a blow on the dragon swung his arm out delivering a swift Slash Attack to the monkey's chest. The monkey started to bleed as Jacob quickly returned it.

Izy couldn't handle the sight of this anymore and stood up shouting, "Jacob, we're going to help you! Don't forget, I have a serious gripe with these people too!"

"Team Advent deserves to be punished," Anna stated with her rare angry face on.

Jacob let down tears of joy shouting, "It means so much that you'd help me!"

"That seems a little unfair," Perona said pulling out two more Pokeballs and throwing them into the battle field sending out a large blue crocodile-like Pokemon called Feraligatr and a light-green lizard-like Pokemon called Sceptile. Now it was three-on-three, and her backup Pokemon weren't quite as strong as a Garchomp.

Jacob sent out Heracross, once again to Perona's displeasure, and targeted Garchomp. For Sceptile, Izy chose Hoothoot, which was certainly a good choice as plant types had a weakness to flying types. To face off against Feraligatr, Anna chose her ever-powerful Nosepass. Sure, Feraligatr had an advantage over Nosepass, but it was kind of unfair as Sceptile did as well. At least Nosepass was bigger than Feraligatr.

Knowing it would be difficult to focus on all three Pokemon at once, Perona decided to allow her Pokemon to make up their own strategies. They'd been trained so well that they could fight independently if they wanted to.

Heracross soared towards Garchomp with his horn lowered and glowing for a Mega Horn. However, this proved futile as Garchomp dodged to the right. However, Heracross was prepared and did a U-turn in the air, appearing right behind Garchomp's neck and ramming into him. Jacob's eyes sparkled as Heracross had just performed Aerial Ace.

However, Garchomp was far from finished as he slashed Heracross, not with slash attack but this time with an attack known as Dragon Claw. Perona was a bit impressed that Garchomp had gotten hit, but that died when Heracross, like the last two, was down and out in one simple move.

Nosepass rushed towards Feraligatr preparing a tackle, but the alligator Pokemon opened up his mouth an unleashed a fierce water attack known as Hydro Pump, hitting Nosepass and dealing a lot of damage. See, Hydro Pump was one of the strongest, if not the strongest water attack of all time, so Nosepass going up against such a highly experienced Pokemon didn't stand a chance and passed out right away.

For once, Anna was actually worried and concerned. If this were any other opponent, she would have accepted defeat, but Team Advent was evil. They were the kind of people who really shouldn't have been winning.

Hoothoot got a good start on Sceptile, delivering a powerful Peck Attack, but Sceptile shrugged off the pain and rammed into the bird for a Slam Attack. Sadly, this had been more than enough and Hoothoot was down for the count.

Perona grinned wickedly saying, "Come on, you and I both know your regular Pokemon are useless in this battle, Jacob."

Jacob had to win at all cost, and he only had one more option. He looked down at Lucario who had a serious look in his eyes and stepped forward, ready to face Garchomp once and for all.

Izy and Anna felt that they should at least try to help out, but Graveler lost even more quickly than Nosepass had and Scyther and Beedrill, while they certainly put up a good fight against Sceptile, even they ended up losing. It was quite sad, really. All this time, only Izy had an advantage, and even she'd lost.

It was all down to Lucario and Garchomp, Perona sportsmanly returning her other two Pokemon to make it more fair. She may have been a villain, but Team Advent had a code, and that was to avoid fighting dirty until things became too difficult. If it hadn't been so easy for her up to this point, she would have gladly pitted all three against Lucario.

Lucario charged towards Garchomp for a quick attack, but the dragon countered with a well-timed Slash Attack, forming a cut on Lucario's chest while the infant fell to the ground. Perona felt disappointed until Lucario ended up being the only one who actually survived the first attack.

"Good job, Lucario!" Jacob shouted, "Now let's go for an Aura Sphere!"

But the Aura Sphere of all things also failed as Garchomp blocked it with his fin-shaped skin. But before he could attack, Lucario's eyes glowed yellow, yet another color that hadn't been seen up to this point.

"What's he gonna use now?" Izy asked as Perona blinked, rather confused. She didn't know Lucario's eyes could glow.

Lucario proceeded to open his mouth releasing a devastating Hyper Beam. Since these random attacks always seemed more powerful than the regular versions of them, one could only imagine how much damage this would do.

However, this was unknown as Garchomp narrowly dodged to the side, the beam hitting one of the mountains in the background leaving a gaping crater in it. Garchomp opened his mouth and finished Lucario with a powerful flame known as Dragon Rage. Jacob's eyes went wide while the others just gasped in fear. And yes, that includes Anna.

Lucario had actually lost. It couldn't be. Of all the Pokemon in his arsenal, Lucario was the only one of Jacob's who hadn't lost a single battle up to this point. To see him lying there unconscious was just painful.

Perona grunted and said, "That's the great Lucario that Donavan and Jenna were so afraid of? That thing's too pathetic. There's no way the boss will accept something so weak."

That said, Perona took off, returning Garchomp while Jacob just fell on his hands and knees letting down tears. Lucario was supposed to be the final hope incase the legendary Pokemon failed. But how could Lucario replace them when he was so weak?

Izy placed a hand on his shoulder and said, "It's okay, Jacob. Everyone loses at some point."

But Jacob slammed his fist into the ground shouting, "But if Lucario can't handle a member of team Advent, how is he supposed to help the legends defeat the entire organization?"

"I knew I recognized that hidden power," came a loud booming voice. The three humans turned to the source as Jacob's eyes sparkled. There was no way they could be in the presence of this particular Pokemon.

Standing before them was big red lizard-like creature yellow dots on its back and round steel bits. It also had a steel helmet on its face and four big feet along with a row of metal circles surrounding its mouth. This was the legendary Pokemon, Heatran.

"That Lucario of yours is the one chosen by us," he said as Jacob lowered his head in shame saying, "You just saw him lose, didn't you?"

"Yes, that I did," Heatran replied, "but don't let it get you down. That Lucario is still only a baby and has only been battling for a few days. You can't expect him to beat every opponent he faces just yet."

Hearing these words got Jacob thinking. Maybe his expectations of Lucario were too high. It was as the legendary Pokemon had stated. Lucario was still a beginner when it came right down to it. Sure, he'd defeated powerful opponents, but that didn't mean the infant was ready to face just anything.

"You've done a great job training Lucario so far," Heatran said, "Darkrai sent me a telepathic message saying Lucario passed his test. Don't lose faith in your partner just because of one loss. What doesn't kill you can only make you stronger."

With that, Heatran turned around and exited the area, Izy placing a hand on Jacob shoulder as the boy got to his feet, drying away his tears and said with a grin, "Come on, guys. I got a gym battle to win."


	14. Chapter 14

Pokemon Quest

Finally Jacob had arrived in Mossberg where the third gym battle awaited the boy and his Lucario. Despite the name, Mossberg was more of a port meaning it was right next to an ocean and had a dock for ships. But first, they needed a quick stop to the Pokemon Centre. After all Pokemon were healed, the group headed to the gym only to see that it was closed!

"WHAT!?" Jacob spat as his legs trembled, Izy sighing, "We'll just wait for the gym leader to return. It can't be too long of a wait, right?"

Suddenly, Jacob noticed something as he shushed the girl. Izy felt rather offended until she noticed what Jacob had. There was a rather suspicious-looking man boarding a ship carrying a rather big oil drum. What could this possibly be about?

Anna squinted and smiled warmly saying, "It looks like that man's putting a drum of nitroglycerin on a cargo ship," Jacob and Izy's eyes widening in response to this.

Nitroglycerin was a chemical used to give bombs their explosive properties. What was this man doing with this substance and where could he possibly be taking it? As the man turned towards their direction to take a quick breather from carrying the heavy container, all three notices a badge shaped like the letter A on his shirt around the chest area.

"It can't be," Jacob said as Izy stated, "That guy works for Team Advent. Whatever that nitroglycerin is for, we gotta stop him from delivering it."

Anna nodded in agreement. She was passive about many things, but everything Team Advent did just aggravated her. Until she met Donavan and Jenna, there was no one in the world she hated. She wanted revenge on them for ruining that for her.

As such, the teens snuck on the ship when the buff man climbed aboard and hid in some crates. While inside, they overheard everything the man and the captain of the ship were saying.

"I see you brought the cargo," the captain said, "How much is in that drum, Miles?"

The buff man, known as Miles, simply lifted it up replying, "You tell me." He placed the drum in the captain's arms as the boater struggled to keep it held up but had to put it down after five seconds. It was certainly heavy. It must have been filled up to the top.

"Good job," the captain said, "but please, don't jeopardize the cargo like that again. Who knows what this stuff could do if we dropped it?"

"How quickly you forget," Miles remarked, "It's hard to imagine you're the captain of this vessel. We're wearing explosion-proof vests underneath our clothes. Don't you remember? Our aim is to blow up this ship the second the mayor of Paken Island greets us with us still in it."

Jacob and Lucario's eyes widened while Izy and Anna both gritted their teeth. This was awful. Something needed to be done.

Miles and the captain entered the ship completely with the drum of nitroglycerin while the teens and Lucario climbed out of the crates. Action had to be taken quickly, but they needed to be ready if they were caught.

The machine attached to the anchor started to turn as the anchor was being brought up. This was bad. The four had to hurry this up otherwise it would be too late. The four of them opened the door to the inside sneaking about, quite fortunate that there were no team Advent goons near the entrance.

They ran from room to room, hiding behind anything that seemed convenient and luckily, they had managed to avoid detection from any Team Advent members onboard. But just as it seemed like they were in the clear, a man tapped them on the shoulder and asked, "Hey, what are you kids doing here?"

Jacob started to panic as Lucario clung to his legs, but things took an unexpected turn when Izy punched the Team Advent agent hard in the face, knocking him to the ground. Everyone, even Anna, was in shock as Izy's angry expression left, the girl realizing what she'd just done.

"You kids are crazy!" the man spat, "I'm calling for backup!"

Before the teens could do a thing to stop him, he pulled out a small controller and pushed a big red button setting off an alarm all around the ship. It wasn't long until backup had arrived and all four teens were surrounded.

"I guess we have no choice but to fight," Jacob said, scowling at Izy who shrugged and let out a weak, "Sorry?"

And so the group sent out all of their Pokemon while the seventeen Team Advent members sent out theirs. Some had big rat Pokemon called Raticate while others had while others had large bat-like Pokemon called Golbat. There was also a boxer called Hitmonchan and wolf-like beings known as Houndoom.

Despite the amazing power and number of the Team Advent agents, Jacob, Izy and Anna's Pokemon seemed to have the advantage. Lucario mowed down an opponent with Aura Sphere while Monferno finished a good number of them with Flame Wheel. Buizel took out a couple with her ferocious water attacks and Heracross managed defeated one with his Megahorn. While battling with a Hitmonchan, Hoothoot was just about to lose when something came over her.

Instead of look like an owl's head, she now had the body of a fully grown owl. Her feathers were now light-brown and her wings and back were dark-brown. She had evolved into Noctowl and Izy couldn't have been more pleased.

As Hitmonchan rushed in for a fierce punch, Noctowl flew over his head and a delivered a powerful chopping attack with her wings simply known as Air Slash. This was truly a shining moment as she wasn't just more powerful, she was also more beautiful to look at.

Scyther and Beedrill had both managed to take out a good number of foes while Graveler bowled over many. Anna would have used Nosepass, but he was too big for the ship to handle.

After the battle had ended and Team Advent retreated, Izy wishing she could have done so much more to them, Anna noticed the door to another room just hanging open as if someone had forgotten to close it. For the first time ever, she started to look sad as she noticed a containment pod within it holding a small fox-like Pokemon with six curly tails called Vulpix.

"You poor thing," she said compassionately, pressing a button and opening up the pod, hugging the fox-like creature who felt very happy to be free, "I'll give you a good home."

Vulpix noticed that Anna had an empty Pokeball with her and whacked it with its paw, opening it up and allowing itself to enter it. Anna's eyes sparkled as she held up the ball, nuzzling it up against her cheek. She was used to training rock types, but to own something as cute as a Vulpix was just too good to be true.

"Hey, Anna," Jacob called, "are you gonna be in there all day!? We gotta hurry!"

The girl nodded and smiled happily, skipping out of the room. But just as the teens and Lucario were about to continue, a brute man appeared before them with a look of frustration on his face.

"You kids are the intruders who made my agents run to me crying for help!?" he spat as Izy snickered and thought, 'Babies.'

Then the man, namely Miles, shook his head with a sigh. How could top agents lose to simply teens like these? There was no way he would believe that three kids could stand up to his men.

That was until he noticed the Lucario with them. His eyes widened when he realized he was in the presence of the boy he'd been warned about. As hard as it was to believe, Donavan and Jenna actually had a good friend in Team Advent and Miles was that friend. He had been warned about a kid with a loose Lucario traveling around, so to see this was alarming.

"I don't know why you're here," the man said, pulling out two Pokeballs, "but if you want to make it out alive, you must best me in battle."

Jacob stood tall and proud saying, "You guys stay out of this. I wanna beat this alone."

Izy grimaced as she wanted to get a piece of the action. Defeating an army of Team Advent members just wasn't good enough for her. She wanted to tear apart the entire organization limb-from-limb, and for Jacob to request a solo battle in such a dire situation was crazy.

But before she could object, she and Anna were tapped on the shoulders as they turned to see the captain of the ship juggling a pair of Pokeballs himself. Sure, Izy didn't get her chance to face Miles, but at least she had a shot at beating an important member of Team Advent.

The captain hurled his Pokeballs into the air sending out a seahorse Pokemon called Seadra and a more vicious-looking one known as Kingdra. This was no problem for Izy as she sent in her Scyther. Anna chose Graveler feeling confident, despite her Pokemon having a type disadvantage yet again.

Miles hurled his two Pokeballs sending out a large camel-like Pokemon with big volcanoes for humps known as Camerupt and a very odd Pokemon to go with it called Magmar. Magmar was a fire type with a very odd-looking body. For one thing, its mouth was shaped like a duck bill. The rest of its body was like that of a dragon with a burning tail, a color scheme of red and yellow, the top of the yellow lower body shaped like a couple of flames. It also had two flames on its head that resembled ears.

Jacob grinned as he said, "Using fire types against me would have worked a while back, but now I have the upper hand," throwing a Pokeball and summoning Buizel while he Lucario joined the weasel. Miles grimaced at the sight of this. Both of these Pokemon would make things a lot harder for him, and he just wanted this to be over with right away.

The sea captain seemed to have the upper hand as Seadra and Kingdra pelted Scyther and Graveler with Hydro Pump. While the two breathed heavily, Anna and Izy grimaced. This was not going as planned.

"Did you honestly believe you could defeat me?" the captain laughed, "I am a very highly respected member of Team Advent. A couple of kids can't possibly defeat me."

Anna grimaced, which was quite rare, as she spat, "For your information, I used to be a gym leader!" the captain putting on an alarmed expression. Well, this wasn't completely true, but Anna certainly had the power and skills of a gym leader.

Izy glared at the man herself and stated, "You Team Advent members have caused me nothing but misery and sorrow! You are going to pay for your actions!"

With that, Graveler and Scyther seemed to ignore all pain dealt earlier as Graveler rolled into Seadra with a powerful Rollout, knocking the seahorse Pokemon out like a light. Kingdra did all he could to prevent Scyther from getting closer, but the bug Pokemon dodged each attempt and slashed him across the chest, putting a big cut in the enemy.

The captain grumbled and returned his Pokemon saying, "You may have won this, but your friend is still in a world of trouble."

This seemed to be true as Jacob's eyes were wide open, Lucario hit by a powerful flame thrower from Magmar and Buizel caught off-guard by Camerupt's Take Down Attack, which involved the Camel ramming his body hard into Buizel, dealing a bit of damage to himself in the process.

How could this be? Lucario's fighting type moves had an advantage over Camerupt and Magmar should have been easy pickings for Buizel. Jacob's eyes were wide open and twitching as Miles laughed.

"Did you honestly think you could defeat the might of a gym leader?" he asked as the humans in the area gasped except the captain.

"You're a gym leader?" Jacob asked as Miles nodded saying, "Well, I was the Mossberg gym leader nine years ago. That replacement of mine goes way too easy on the trainers who challenge him."

Izy just trembled and asked, "Why? Why would you throw that away for this?"

Miles simply grinned replying with the words, "Let's just say Team Advent gave me an offer I couldn't refuse."

When Miles got a good look at the angry Izy, his eyes went wide. She looked familiar to him. What was it? Then it hit him. He had seen similar hair and eyes before.

"Hey, little girl, I happen to have known your father," Miles said as Izy's eyes went wide. Miles looked her over and said, "Oh yes, you're almost a spitting image of Jack Valor. He was a good employee."

"Employee?" Jacob remarked as he stared at Izy with wide eyes. What did the man mean by that?

Izy let down tears of anger while Miles grinned wickedly and explained, "Izy's father, Jack Valor, worked for us after we kidnapped him and his wife. We didn't even realize those two had a kid. While his wife was useless baggage, Jack himself was an amazing worker."

Jacob and Anna looked at Izy with confused expressions. What was this all about? Izy had never told them this.

Izy had no idea how to respond. She was too angry and sad upon the mentioning of this. Miles was about to reveal everything she'd wanted to forget.

"Did the girl not tell you about this?" Miles asked as Jacob snapped, "Shut up! We know you're lying!"

"No," Izy said, shaking her head, "He's telling the truth. Dad wrote to me about it every month when I was growing up in the orphanage I grew up in and my caretaker would read them to me."

This was a real shock. Why would Izy's parents work for such an evil organization?

"It was a shame he snapped and rebelled against us," Miles said shaking his head, "otherwise, we wouldn't have had to execute him and his wife. Why must the good ones always turn on us? It seems to happen quite frequently."

Izy was so angry that she couldn't even lash out at the man. It was bad enough she knew that her parents had died but she wished she hadn't heard the details of him working for Team Advent.

Jacob and Lucario were filled with the same hatred as was Anna. All Jack did was try to stand up for what was right and he was punished for it. It was this kind of thing that made the world a sad place to live in.

"BUIZEL, LUCARIO, LET'S GIVE THIS GUY A PIECE OF OUR MIND!!!" he shouted as Lucario nodded and slammed a powerful force palm into Camerupt's face causing the Pokemon to see stars.

Buizel opened her mouth unleashing a fierce Water Gun attack, soaking Magmar and dealing an incredible amount of damage to the odd beast. There was no way Jacob was showing any mercy to a member of such a cruel organization. After losing to Perona, he knew that he couldn't take such a risk anymore.

But unfortunately, this just wasn't quite enough as Camerupt shook off the pain, grunting and rising to his feet. Magmar got up with a look of anger and seemed more than ready to test his luck again. Jacob's eyes widened as Izy gritted her teeth. She just wanted this to end now.

Anna had a neutral look on her face, not sure what the outcome would be while the captain just watched with a sneer. It seemed like Miles just might win out in the end.


	15. Chapter 15

Pokemon Quest

Lucario and Buizel were in trouble now. They were certain that last assault would do their opponents in but here they were, still standing. Of course, Lucario was a pretty bad pick for a partner, but Jacob had so much trust in the infant. He was certain Lucario wouldn't lose again.

"Just give up already," Miles said with a grimace, "Your persistence is testing my patience."

Izy glared at Miles ashamed of the man for joining the side of evil. Anna was still neutral as Jacob gritted his teeth.

"I DON'T CARE IF I LOSE TO YOU!!!!" he spat much to Miles' displeasure, "I will never back down no matter what you throw at me!"

Miles gritted his teeth with a forced smile and remarked, "Trying to be a hero, are we? Listen, you're just a regular Pokemon trainer. You're not a master, so beat it!"

At this exact moment, Buizel started to change. His master's courage was rather inspiring.

Everyone watched in awe, Miles with a look of fear on his face as Buizel's body became taller and a bit wider near the bottom. The floatation ring around her neck transformed into a bit life preserver that humped across his shoulders and around her arms, kind of like a back pack without the pack. Her arms, which were longer, also had longer fish fins on them. Her tails and fin-shaped hair atop her head were also longer and she now had a big pair of fangs sticking out of her mouth.

Anna and Jacob's eyes sparkled for Buizel had just evolved into Floatzel. This had happened much quicker than the other evolutions, so Jacob was very happy with this.

Miles was furious now as Floatzel unleashed a much more powerful water gun, this time taking Magmar out for good. Now Camerupt had no partner left, but that didn't stop him from trying.

Miles knew it was pointless, but he continued to shout orders as Camerupt unleashed an ember attack towards Lucario. The infant braced himself as this attack could very well finish him off, but Floatzel leapt in the way and held her fins out blocking the attack.

This evolution was showing far more results than expecting, and things were only getting better as Lucario's eyes glowed yellow. Miles' eye twitched as the infant released a devastating Hyper Beam finishing Camerupt for good.

Miles was in too much shock to return Camerupt as he fell on his hands and knees, the sea captain's eyes going wide. He just realized that no one was steering the ship now.

He looked out one of the windows and saw that the ship was about to ram into a rock. He quickly ran to where the steering wheel was, but the ship was too close to crashing. Even if he got to the wheel, there was no way he could prevent it from crashing, and if it did, the drum with the nitroglycerin would surely explode. He would have been fine with the kids dying, but he was too stubborn to realize that the plan had already been foiled and wanted to make sure it went exactly as planned.

"Oh no, we gotta get the nitroglycerin outta here!" Jacob shouted as Anna calmly pointed to a drum. It just so happens that Miles was dumb enough to bring it with him to the battle. With his fire Pokemon, it was amazing an explosion hadn't occurred yet.

The group struggled to hold it up. Miles must have been tougher than he looked, because even with all three along with Lucario and Floatzel trying to lift it up, it was hard work.

Just as the boat was second away from the rock, the group managed to heave the nitroglycerin towards the window and used all their might to heave it out of the ship. They really hoped to avoid hitting the water and all the Pokemon living in it, and luckily it managed to hit a rock blowing a big gap in it.

But there was still one problem left. The boat had now crashed into the rock and was starting to sink. Luckily, the group had Floatzel who inflated her life preserver and took the teens' and Lucario's hands diving out the window with them into the ocean and swimming away just in time.

Izy had a satisfactory grin as the seventeen Team Advent members and the two generals were still onboard. Finally some true justice had been done. Although Jacob felt a little bad while Anna didn't seem to realize that the Team Advent members had drowned to death. Jacob felt awful. Bad or not, he didn't want living beings to die.

But all in all, at least they'd managed to stop an evil plan as Floatzel took them back to shore. The problem had finally been dealt with.

Unfortunately, not all Team Advent members had died in the sinking of the boat. While the seventeen lackeys had paid a visit to Davy Jones' locker along with the captain, Miles had survived. He swam up to the surface gasping for air as he felt ashamed of himself for failing so horribly. But he wasn't just depressed over the fact that he'd lost. He was also saddened by the fact that he'd irresponsibly allowed Camerupt to drown.

Not only was Camerupt in the bottom of his biggest weakness, he was a very heavy Pokemon so he was unable to swim. Miles just knew that his camel Pokemon was never coming back. Camerupt was dead and he felt responsible for it all.

As the teens climbed ashore, they were interviewed by news reporters about the event that had occurred. Izy told the whole story of it all and explained how she, Jacob and Anna had prevented their plan from working.

"What was the nitroglycerin being used for?" the reporter asked as Jacob shrugged and replied, "Those Team Advent guys didn't reveal their plans to us, so we have no idea."

Now, one would probably call Jacob stupid for this. After all, this report was on live television and his mom watched the news every day. But that didn't matter too much to him as his mom already knew he was gone from the letter he'd left behind, however, he didn't consider for a minute that an event like this would worry her.

His mother just watched the screen and sighed, "He's become a hero like his father. I bet he's going to die like his father, too."

She let down tears wishing she could do something about this, but she knew her place. She didn't know the first thing about training Pokemon and she knew how dangerous traveling outside the city limits without a Pokemon would be.

After the news report, Jacob noticed a young man with red hair walk towards him as he asked, "Did you really defeated Miles?"

"Yes, I did," Jacob answered truthfully as the man smiled replying, "I'm Derk, the Mossberg gym leader. Miles is a far tougher trainer than me, and for you to beat him under difficult circumstances is more than enough to earn you this."

The man pulled out a badge as Jacob held it, his eyes sparkling. Sure, he hadn't defeated the official gym leader to earn it, but he had defeated someone stronger. This gave him a much more positive attitude.

As the Pokemon rested in the centre, Jacob sat next to Izy while Anna was outside playing with her new Vulpix. Jacob rested a hand on the girl's shoulder and said, "Izy, don't dwell on the past too much."

"I know I shouldn't," Izy said, "I pursued a life of contests because dad wanted me to live a happy life despite what happened to him. That's why I wanted to forget that he was forced to work for them during his time alive."

"I hate to bring this up," Jacob said, "but how did you know he died?"

"Well, it also explains where my Hoothoot came from," Izy replied, "That very Hoothoot came to the orphanage before I started my journey. Dad had caught him in secret when he noticed Hoothoot crash-land into the Advent base. It so happens that the toxic fumes from the factories prevented his flight. He and mom secretly made Hoothoot more healthy and were about to send him to me as a present when Dad was executed. Mom knew she would be next, so she wrote a quick note telling me of this and tying it to Hoothoot's leg, giving him directions to my orphanage."

"I'm amazed," Jacob said, "Most parents would hide this sort of thing from a little kid. Your mom and dad were truly honest people."

And so the night went by calm and peaceful and when the morning came, it was back on the road. Izy had finally cheered herself up, remembering what she'd set out to do. Anna was calm and happy as always and Jacob was confident as ever to get his forth gym badge.

Meanwhile, Miles had returned to the Team Advent head quarters, looking rather ashamed of himself. He was frightened when he entered Varen's office.

He explained how his Camerupt had drowned at sea and Varen nodded in understanding. Varen offered to give Miles a replacement, but the ex-gym leader refused. He knew that no one could replace Camerupt if he didn't train the Pokemon on his own. But what Miles did want was to borrow the chopper.

He used it to fly to the area where he'd first met Camerupt back when he was his pre-evolutionary form, Numel. Here, in the mountains that Jacob and his friends had passed through earlier, he spotted another Numel just minding his business.

He knew it would be nothing like his first Numel, but he didn't want any other Pokemon in his team, so after a fierce battle between this new Numel and Magmar, the camel Pokemon was caught and Miles sighed, a smile on his face. It would be a while before this Numel developed into a Camerupt as strong as his old one, but now he truly felt at peace.

'I'm sorry, Camerupt,' he thought, 'but I know you wouldn't want me to dwell over your loss forever. I'll make sure this one becomes big and strong not only for me but to honor you.'

Jacob and his friends were back on the road when the boy spotted a green Pokemon shaped like a sphere with rounded arms. Along its body were needles and it had five circles representing a mouth along with something atop its head that resembled a crown.

Jacob and Anna's eyes sparkled as they shouted, "It's a Cacnea!" Izy rolling her eyes. Would they reacting to everything this way?

She was also rather nervous about that look in Jacob's eye. She knew the boy wanted it and shrugged, sitting back while he sent out Monferno.

"Monferno, trap it with Fire Spin!" he shouted as the monkey opened her mouth surrounding the Cacnea in a ring of fire.

Cacnea attempted to escape but only managed to burn its arm in the process as Monferno took full advantage of this hitting the cactus-like Pokemon with a powerful ember. Cacnea managed to barely survive as it shot an array of needles at Monferno. This attack was known as Pin Missile.

Luckily, Monferno was too fast for the move, and besides, it wouldn't have done much to her anyway. Finally, the monkey delivered her finishing blow, Flame Wheel and Cacnea was caught in an instant. Jacob danced happily as another member had been added to the team, Izy just happy that he was pleased with the end result.

Despite the recent events, there was no way the teens were going to stop enjoying themselves. Darkrai had told them not to look away from their goals and they intended to keep that promise no matter how ludicrous it sounded.


	16. Chapter 16

Pokemon Quest

Once again, the group was on the road now headed towards Haruka City. Here, a contest was being held and the forth gym battle awaited Jacob. This showed a lot of promise and was quite exciting.

However, they failed to realize that Donavan and Jenna were sneaking about the area with evil grins on their faces. With their Pokemon now evolved, they were certain that Lucario would be easy pickings now.

"So we just have to pass through a cave to get to Haruka city?" Jacob asked as Izy nodded saying, "We're right in front of it."

And that they were. The cave looked uninviting as all caved did, but since when did anything like this stop the teens before?

Just before they could enter, a beam of light shot at the top of the entrance dropping chunks of the Cliffside, blocking all chances to getting inside. Jacob, Izy, Anna and Lucario all turned with angry expressions when they noticed Jenna and Donavan standing there with their four Pokemon by their side.

"How do you like my Dragonair's Hyper Beam?" Jenna asked as Anna's eyes sparkled.

Despite how much she hated Team Advent, she could never control herself around new Pokemon. To her, Dragonair was beautiful, Crawdaunt was cool, Rhydon was even cooler and Purugly was cute. (This does not reflect my thoughts towards Purugly)

"Let's see how you defeat us now!" Jenna spat as the group nodded and sent in the Pokemon of their choice. Jacob decided to test out Cacnea, pitting him up against Crawdaunt. Since Crawdaunt was a water type, this was perfect. Izy chose to have Noctowl up against Purugly just because it always seemed to be that way. Anna knew that her new Vulpix wouldn't stand a chance against Rhydon, so she chose Nosepass much to the rhino Pokemon's displeasure. Lucario volunteered to go up against Dragonair and now the battle was ready to start.

Cacnea threw his thorny arms at Crawdaunt who attempted to block the attack with Crab Hammer. This proved effective for a while, but due to Crawdaunt's attack being a water type and Cacnea's being grass, Crawdaunt's claws were suffering a bit of damage and couldn't handle anymore. Cacnea threw one last Needle Arm at the crab Pokemon and hit him in the face while he was exhausted, Crawdaunt flying into a tree with a look of fury in his eyes.

Lucario attempted to his Dragonair with a series of attacks but missed with every attempt as Jenna laughed and shouted, "DRAGONAIR, USE DRAGON RAGE!!!"

Lucario was caught off guard as the blue flame hit him dead on, but he came out of it just fine. Jenna blinked wondering how an attack that involved a flame dealt so little damage.

"That wasn't such a great idea," Jacob explained, "See, that was a dragon type attack and Lucario is resistant to such moves, so you just wasted a perfectly good opportunity.

As Jenna's eyes widened from the shock of this realization, Lucario hit Dragonair in the face with an Aura Sphere sending her into a tree of her own. Meanwhile, Noctowl swooped towards Purugly, delivering a fierce peck attack to her chest. Purugly growled and attempted to strike Noctowl, but the owl Pokemon dodged with ease and unleashed a power Air Slash.

However, the results weren't looking very good as the cat Pokemon snarled and sent her claws towards the shocked Noctowl, slashing her across the chest. Izy just had a confused look as she gritted her teeth thinking, 'Of course, Purugly has four times Glameow's defensive capabilities. Physical attacks won't do too much to her.'

So she changed her tactics a little and had Noctowl use Confusion. Sadly, Purugly seemed to be ignoring the pain induced by this, despite it being much greater, and delivering another powerful Slash attack to Noctowl's chest, leaving more bleeding marks as the owl breathed heavily.

Nosepass was doing quite well as he rammed into Rhydon with a powerful tackle attack. But Rhydon ignored the pain rushing towards Nosepass, his horn spinning like a drill and rammed it into the totem's chest. While Horn Drill wasn't all too effective, it did leave a small hole in the rock Pokemon, but the worst was yet to come as he lifted up his arm ramming it into the totem's face.

This attack was known as Hammer Arm, and as it was a fighting move Nosepass was weak against it. The totem fell on his back as Anna started to worry, but smiled warmly when she noticed the rocks left behind courtesy of Dragonair's Hyper Beam.

"Use Rock Throw with those rocks over there," Anna suggested calmly as Nosepass struggled up to his feet lifting up the rocks and molding them into one giant boulder, throwing them into the now spellbound Rhydon's skull. The two-legged rhino's eyes swirled as he collapsed and had officially lost. Not only had Rhydon lost, but now the cave was accessible again.

Crawdaunt had unfortunately survived the previous attack. I mean, come on, his opponent was still in his first stage. There was no way one attack from Cacnea would do him in.

Donavan had a smile on his face when the crab leapt at Cacnea with his claw wide open. This was not a good sign. This was a devastating attack known as Guillotine and any Pokemon it hit would go down instantly.

But Cacnea hadn't taken in any damage or really worked up a sweat for that matter, so he simply leapt to the side, Crawdaunt's attack missing and delivered yet another Needle Arm, this one managing to take the crab Pokemon out for good.

As it looked like Purugly was going to deliver the finishing blow to Noctowl, the owl's head started to glow as she rose to her feet, soaring towards Purugly. The cat just stood there wide-eyed and took in the powerful blow falling on her side unable to continue. Noctowl had just used Zen Headbutt and despite making little difference against a Purugly, it had certainly done its job.

Just as it looked like Lucario was going to defeat Dragonair, the dragon Pokemon unleashed a power hyper beam from her horn. Lucario was unable to dodge and skidded across the ground, moaning in pain. One more like that and it was over.

But just as Dragonair prepared to deliver the finishing blow, Lucario's eyes glowed violet as the infant threw his arm out, striking Dragonair with a powerful shadow claw and taking the dragon out for good.

Donavan and Jenna returned their Pokemon and fled as usual with tears in their eyes. They were really confident that they could win. This was just devastating to them.

"Well, they were a bit more challenging I guess," Jacob said as Izy sighed, once again disappointed that the two had escaped. It didn't matter as Anna pointed calmly at the cave saying, "The rocks are gone now," actually sounding a little surprised. She seemed to have forgotten that Nosepass used the rocks blocking the entrance to defeat Rhydon.

Upon entering the cave, Lucario felt a chill down his spine and hugged Jacob's leg, the boy petting the infant's head. He smiled and said, "It's okay, Lucario. Nothing's going to jump out and eat us."

He must had jinxed the group with that statement as seconds after he'd let the words out, a horrifying bat-like creature with a scorpion's stinger and claws and pink flesh appeared before them, sticking out its tongue with eyes wide open, the teens all in panic. As they backed up, the bat-like creature revealed to be a Pokemon broke out into hysterics.

Anna, who was the only one who didn't freak out, had sparkling eyes as she said, "Oh my god, it's a Gligar! It's so cute!"

Izy's look of panic turned to a grin as she pulled out a Pokeball shouting, "If it flies, it's mine!"

That said, she sent out Noctowl once again. She knew that Scyther and Beedrill weren't the best choices as Gligar had an advantage over bug types. Izy mouthed a command to Noctowl who nodded and unleashed Confusion as her eyes glowed while Gligar cringed, feeling a pain coursing through its body.

Nevertheless, Gligar just shook off the pain and flew towards Noctowl. The owl dodged to the right only for Gligar to make a swift U-turn, hitting the owl hard in the back. Nothing could dodge Quick Attack.

Gligar laughed like a maniac rolling around in hysterics, Izy groaning. This Gligar was starting to remind her of Jacob's Floatzel.

Nevertheless, she once again mouthed a command so the opponent couldn't hear it as Noctowl swooped at Gligar preparing another attack only for Gligar to crab onto her beak with its scorpion claws. As Noctowl attempted to escape, the bat-like Pokemon threw its tail at the owl, jamming the stinger on the end into her chest as blood trickled out. This was known as Poison Sting and if it managed to poison an opponent, the enemy would slowly lose his or her vitality even if he or she was in a Pokeball.

Gligar broke out into hysterics, now on the ground beating one of his claws against the surface and tears running down his eyes. Izy saw this as an advantage, but right now, Noctowl wasn't feeling quite herself. The poison had taken effect.

Jacob and Lucario were both worried that Izy would lose while Anna was in her neutral state again. Right now, it was anyone's game.

Gligar was distracted by his own sense of humor but Noctowl was poisoned. However, in the end, Noctowl fought off the pressure from the poison and soared towards Gligar despite knowing that the poison would damage her for doing so.

Gligar finally stopped its laughing fit too late to dodge an incoming Air Slash as it groaned in pain, unable to move. Izy hurled the Pokeball consuming it, but rather than stopping the vibration after a few movements, Gligar escaped from the ball. No longer was it in a happy mood. It was steamed now. Literally, steam was pouring out of its ears.

"Darn, I should have guessed two attacks from its own kind wouldn't be enough," Izy said with a grin, "Let's just try again, Noctowl!"

But Gligar would not allow Noctowl to hit it again as its body started to sparkle. The second Noctowl's beak hit Gligar's chest for a peck attack, she ended up backing off and rubbing her beak, once again taking in damage from the poison.

"This isn't good," Jacob said, "Gligar just used Harden. That halves the strength of physical attacks."

But luckily, Izy knew a way around this and had Noctowl use Confusion once again. There was no actual reason for this, but somehow, Gligar didn't seem to feel any pain from the attack and just flew towards Noctowl, sending its claws down in a cross formation for an X-Scissor. This was pretty stupid as bug type attacks didn't work well on flying types but the attack did manage to put a gash on Noctowl's stomach.

For some strange reason, there was a violet liquid mixed in with the blood as it dripped to the ground. This, for some reason, made Noctowl feel a tad stronger. Could it be that this cut had helped remove some of the poison within the owl's body?

Well, it hadn't gotten rid of all the poison, but at least the effects were weakening as Noctowl went in for one last Peck Attack. Gligar attempted to strike the owl only for Noctowl to dodge as she planted her beak into Gligar's belly. Gligar let out a cry of pain as he fell to the ground, unable to move.

"I've got you now," Izy said as she hurled her Pokeball and thus, Gligar was finally captured.

After that, she hugged her Noctowl and said, "I'm so sorry I didn't use this earlier," and pulled a small vial from her pocket, spraying a liquid that seemed to make Noctowl feel healthier.

Jacob blinked and asked, "What is that, Izy?"

"I know what that is," Anna said with a warm smile, "That's an antidote. It cures a Pokemon's poison."

And so the group continued through the cave until they exited out the other side and it was time for Jacob to challenge the gym leader of Haruka City.


	17. Chapter 17

Pokemon Quest

Before we go right to Haruka City where a gym battle and contest would take place, we now go to another area. This was an island not recorded on any map. Despite not having cold weather, it was covered with crystals and in the center, there was a large crystal with an opening in it. This big crystal was actually a home for a certain pair of Pokemon.

One was a large dragon with a bright pink color and two shoulder pads with red orbs in the middle of them. It also had violet streaks and a sky-blue head. This was the legendary dragon, Palkia.

Another was a blue creature that looked more like a fusion between a wolf and a dragon. It had white armor in certain areas of its body and a blue orb on a chest plate. This Pokemon was known as Dialga.

Palkia and Dialga were the legendary dragons and had a fearsome reputation. It was said in legend that they had defeated a huge threat to the world known as Giratina years ago.

You're probably wondering why they're even in this chapter. At this very moment, a large plane had ridden to this island. A familiar woman, namely Perona, came out with a number of her finest allies.

She grinned and said, "I actually managed to find Dragon Island. This gives me a nice warm feeling inside."

At this moment, both dragons were asleep. However, Dialga had heard the plane and woke up from his slumber. He peeked outside of the cave and noticed the Team Advent members exiting the plane, none of them actually spotting the dragon just yet.

He felt a bad aura coming from them as his eyes glowed a dark shade of blue briefly. He then took off out of the cave, making sure to stay hidden.

Perona looked back and forth before noticing the cave. She'd heard the stories of how the legendary dragons lived in a cave and she knew in her heart that this was that very cave.

"Men, infiltrate the cave," she said with an evil grin, but just as the Team Advent members were about to enter, Dialga leapt out from behind one of the crystals and shot a powerful flame from his mouth, starting a fire in front of them. This was known as Dragonbreath.

Perona's eyes went wide when she saw her pray, but her look of shock turned to a wicked smile. Despite the disadvantage she and her men were in, she was happy with the fact that she'd managed to bring her target out into the open.

"Men, stand down!" the woman shouted as she pulled out her Pokeballs, "This is between the two of us."

The assistants looked scared until she winked at them, making it clear that both she and her people knew that they weren't going to lose. The men all fled as Dialga let out a loud roar.

This wasn't just to show how furious he was with Perona's presence. It was also meant to awaken Palkia from his slumber. The winged dragon flew out of the cave and landed in front of Perona, the woman not at all afraid, and she should have been.

One of these two was already amazingly powerful, but to face both of them at once was like wishing for death. Dialga and Palkia were both very strong, so this duo was not to be taken lightly.

Perona hurled all six of her Pokeballs sending out her team. There was Garchomp, Feraligatr and Sceptile, the obvious specimens, but she had much more in her arsenal as well. One was a large mammal-like creature with a blue back and a white front, a flame coming out of the back of his neck. This Pokemon was known as Typhlosion. Another had yellow skin with some brown spots holding a pair of spoons known as Alakazam. Her last Pokemon was a very unexpected one. In fact, this one was a legendary Pokemon.

It was a large yellow bird with a long, pointed beak and its feathers pointed out to resemble an electric spark. This was the legendary bird Pokemon, Zapdos.

The team Advent members stared in shock as Perona laughed shouting, "Varen doesn't even know that I captured this last summer on my vacation to Kanto! I've been looking for an excuse to use her!"

This in itself was truly a frightening thought. Perona had a legend in her arsenal, but she knew how dangerous owning one was, so to play it safe, she kept it stored during for battles she knew didn't require Zapdos' assistance.

Alakazam focused hard unleashing his powerful psychic attack upon Palkia for they all knew that Dialga had an advantage over psychic attacks. Palkia shook off the pain dealt from it but was unable to respond when Sceptile leapt at him unleashing his Leaf Blade. Despite being part water type, Palkia didn't have too much of a weakness to this, but it still dealt a good amount of damage, Zapdos only adding to the damage with a huge bolt of lightning simply known as Thunder.

Now, Dialga did not have a whole lot of weaknesses, so he was more of a threat. In fact, he had a bolstered defense against a number of types. And while most dragon types were weak against other dragon attacks, Dialga was not.

Feraligatr unleashed its hydro pump upon Dialga who easily ignored the pain, but just before he could strike, Typhlosion hit him with a large blast of fire known as Eruption. Unlike the water attack, which Dialga had an advantage over, fire attacks dealt a descent amount of damage thanks to the dragon's steel DNA, so this was a good distraction for Garchomp to nail the beast with a powerful Dragon Rage.

However, none of the attacks used on either really had a huge advantage over the dragons, and as such, they were furious. Perona was going to pay for her actions dearly, they would be sure of that.

Dialga's claws turned to steel as he slashed Feraligatr across the chest, the gator's blood pouring out while Perona had no choice but to return him. Typhlosion sent a flame thrower to the back of Dialga's neck, the dragon roaring in pain and responding with a powerful ball of energy from its mouth known as Aura Sphere.

All that was left was Garchomp, who was probably in the most trouble of them all. Garchomp, being a dragon type, was weak against dragon-type attacks, but despite this, Dialga did not share that weakness. Garchomp attempted his Dragon Rage again only for Dialga to let out another fearsome roar. This wasn't just any roar but an attack called Roar of Time. Not only did this severely damage an opponent, it also stopped time for that opponent leaving it wide open for further attacks.

Perona, knowing Garchomp couldn't with stand another attack, returned him just before Dialga released his Dragonbreath while the remaining Pokemon continued their battle with Palkia.

Palkia angrily threw out his claws putting a huge gash in Sceptile's chest. Alakazam held in power for an attack known as Future Sight, which took quite a while to use. He hoped that Zapdos would provide a long enough distraction.

The bird soared at Palkia with her beak spinning around like a drill only for the dragon to send her back with an aura sphere of his own. But just as it seemed he had the advantage, Alakazam grinned wickedly sending out a huge blast of energy, hitting Palkia dead-on. The dragon grimaced as Zapdos recovered from the damage dealt earlier and unleashed a wave of electricity called Thunder Wave. Since the attack had succeeded Palkia was now paralyzed while Alakazam and Zapdos dealt more damage together with the best move they could use on such short notice.

However, Palkia was strong enough to resist the paralysis enough to knock both down with a large orb of water called Water Pulse. Alakazam was defeated, but Zapdos had survived despite the damage she'd taken in. It made sense. Not only was Zapdos strong against water but she was more powerful than anyone else in Perona's arsenal.

However, with Palkia and Dialga together, the woman knew that Zapdos didn't stand a chance and returned the thunder bird. Despite all of this, she still had a wicked grin and soon Palkia and Dialga saw why, their eyes wide with fear.

As it just so happens, that battle was all a distraction while Team Advent prepared a large beam. Perona grinned wickedly saying, "Unleash the energy sphere," the beam firing and surrounding the dragon duo in a dome made of light.

While the dragons both stood there, worried expressions on their faces, Perona walked over them and said, "You two certainly are as powerful as I imagined, but even you can't escape from this prison."

Palkia and Dialga both unleashed their strongest attacks upon the dome only to get no results. It was truly over for them. They had been captured by Team Advent.

"You'd best cooperate," Perona said, "If you resist, the orb will only hurt you further."

The dragons had to admit defeat as the dome was lifted up by a magnetic beam, revealing itself to be an actual orb. The other half had just been underground at first, so it only looked like a dome.

"Alright, men, we're done here!" Perona shouted as the agents gave her a salute, boarding the plane and taking off while taking the dragons with them. Now that they had two more legendary Pokemon, powerful ones at that, Team Advent was far stronger than ever before. Soon, Varen's master plan would take effect and the world would be his to control.

Meanwhile, Jacob, Izy, Anna and Lucario had finally reached Haruka City. They marveled at all the attractions this city had to offer. It was even more impressive than Celestial City.

Jacob noticed the gym nearby and said, "Good luck with your contest, Izy," the short-haired girl nodding and giving her friend thumbs up, running off to find the contest building.

Anna blinked as she sent out her Vulpix asking, "Vulpix, would you like to be entered in a contest or would you rather watch Jacob battle?"

The small fox pointed towards Izy, Anna nodding as she decided to partake in the contest as well. After her first one, she found contests quite enjoyable.

Jacob entered the gym and found himself in what looked like a processing plant. At that moment, a young woman entered the room carrying a wrench and wiping sweat off her forehead, her worker clothes covered in oil.

"I tell you, this town wouldn't have electricity without me," she sighed to herself before noticing a boy standing there and asked, "Are you here for the gym battle?"

Jacob blinked and replied, "Yes, I am. What were you doing in that other room?"

"Sorry," the woman replied, "My name's Marcy and I'm not just the Haruka gym leader but the one who runs the city's electricity. It's my job to make sure everyone has power."

She then proceeded to raise her wrench in the air while posing heroically and stated, "I am the working light bulb that brightens up your home! I am the socket that makes your power chords work! I am Dark…"

Jacob just stared at her like she was crazy, Marcy realizing that she'd gotten ahead of herself and smiled nervously, letting down a sweat drop. After getting things sorted out, the battle was finally ready to begin as the girl sent out her first Pokemon, a small yellow rat known as Pikachu.

Jacob hadn't expected such a simple starting Pokemon, but then he remembered Jonathan's Ledyba and realized that this wasn't to be taken lightly. Marcy may have been weird, but she was also a gym leader. Jacob could not take her lightly.

Now what was the best thing to use against an electric type? Well, Jacob didn't have any rock or steel types, but he did have a plant type.

"Go, Cacnea!" he shouted hurling a Pokeball into the battle area as the cactus Pokemon stood tall and proud, and now the battle was underway and was sure to be intense.


	18. Chapter 18

Pokemon Quest

The gym battle started with Pikachu charging towards Cacnea preparing for a Quick Attack. Jacob felt confident that Cacnea could counter this with Needle Arm, but much to his shock, the Pikachu simply dodged to the right and rammed its head into Cacnea's side, the cactus groaning in pain.

"You were smart to choose a grass type to combat an electric type," Marcy stated, "but don't forget that Pikachu is a very fast Pokemon."

That was true, and Cacnea wasn't exactly a fast-moving type. Nevertheless, Jacob was determined to win this and would stop at nothing to earn his forth gym badge.

The boy pulled out his guidebook in search of an attack that could catch Pikachu off guard as Marcy gave the command for Pikachu to use Slam. Cacnea started to look rather nervous as he turned to his master, a look of worry on his face. Unfortunately, he was too distracted by Jacob's bad timing to avoid the incoming attack.

"CACNEA, USE COTTON SPORE!!!" Jacob shouted, then noticed the cactus growling at him, smiled nervously and said, "Sorry about that."

Cacnea attempted the attack Jacob had told him to use but to no avail. It seemed he didn't know how to use this attack. This gave Pikachu the perfect opportunity to hit him dead-on with another Quick Attack.

Cacnea was looking very weak, Jacob worried about his Pokemon while Lucario simply clung to the boy's leg. Marcy's Pikachu was quite strong.

"I understand now," the boy said, "Cacnea, you've been losing this battle because of my own incompetence. Let's try working together a bit better, shall we?"

Cacnea's look of doubt became a smile as the cactus nodded. Jacob gave a command as Cacnea held out his arms unleashing a series of needles, shooting them like missiles towards Pikachu. This attack was known as Pin Missile.

"Nice try, but not good enough," Marcy said, "Pikachu, show them the superiority of electric types!"

Pikachu simply leapt over the attack as Jacob shouted, "We got her right where we want her! Use Sucker Punch!" Cacnea leaping towards the electric rat and planting his fist into Pikachu's face.

"Excellent work!" Jacob shouted with a grin of satisfaction, Marcy's eyes wide. She was truly impressed.

Cacnea proceeded to hit Pikachu with a well-aimed Pin Missile, this time actually locking onto its target, and punched the rat with one of his spikes, performing an attack known as Poison Sting. Pikachu's arm started to bleed as the rat felt weaker, Marcy's eyes wide with shock. Her precious Pikachu had been poisoned.

"That was so amazing!" Marcy exclaimed, "That team work is so inspiring! Unfortunately, this battle is far from over!"

Her smile then turned to a wicked one as she shouted, "PIKACHU, USE IRON TAIL!!!!"

Jacob's eyes went wide at the sound of this. Had he heard that right? How could a Pikachu learn a steel attack, let alone Iron Tail? He'd never heard of such a thing being possible.

As such, he was unable to respond to this as Pikachu's tail briefly turned into steel, the rat smacking it hard into the cactus' skull. As a result, Cacnea passed out, Jacob's eyes wide and twitching.

Jacob returned his Cacnea as Lucario had a worried expression. The boy couldn't believe that this had just happened. But even so, he wasn't ready to give up just yet.

Lucario had a look of confidence on his face as if he was determined to avenge his fallen comrade. Well, Lucario didn't exactly have a weakness to any of Pikachu's attacks, so maybe this could work.

"Well, if you insist," the boy said, pointing towards the battle field, "Go get her, Lucario."

The infant leapt into the battle field with a look of confidence, Marcy a tad surprised. To see an opponent with a Lucario, such a rare specimen, was really a sight to behold. Along with that, she was also aware that Pikachu would most likely fall to such an opponent.

"Pikachu, you've done a great job, but it's time to rest!" the woman said returning the infant to his ball.

Her next Pokemon was a big yellow beast with black stripes in specific areas. It also had red eyes, two antennae sticking out of its head and what looked like two electrical chords coming out of its back. This was known as Electivire.

Jacob had a serious look in his eyes as he said, "Lucario, don't feel too intimidated. We've dealt with worse."

Lucario nodded and charged at Electivire, delivering a heavy force palm to his face. Marcy was a bit surprised by this rash action, but the attack hadn't dealt too much damage.

"Let's show him what we're made of!" Marcy shouted to Electivire, "I mean, you have electrical wires coming out of your back! That alone makes you one of the mightiest of all electric types!"

The electric Pokemon grinned, nodding his head and doing a model-like pose, Jacob and Lucario both letting down sweat drops before the posing was over. Electivire unleashed a lightning attack from his wires known simply as Thundershock but Lucario simply leapt to the side, preparing to use Metal Claw.

Unfortunately, Electivire was prepared for this as he grabbed Lucario's arm, both Lucario and Jacob's eyes wide, and sent a punch powered by electricity into the infants gut. Lucario moaned in pain as Marcy smiled almost evilly while saying, "Now you know just how great my Electivire is!"

Her eyes then sparkled as she said in a heavenly tone, "His electrical powers are unmatched worldwide. His look, his power, and his wires: he's perfect in every way and my personal favorite Pokemon in the world."

Jacob just stared blankly at her. Marcy had once again gotten ahead of herself and forgotten about the battle.

He wasn't going to give her a chance to counter this time, so he commanded Lucario to attempt another Metal Claw, but Marcy ended her praising of Electivire just in time to command another counter attack. This time, Electivire used a punch powered by fire simply known as Fire Punch.

'It can't be,' Jacob thought, his eyes widened as Lucario let out a cry of pain falling on his back hard. Since Lucario was part steel type, fire attacks dealt additional damage to him. This looked like it would be the end.

No, Jacob couldn't lose. He wouldn't allow himself to lose. With that in mind, he shouted, "Lucario, stop lying around and get to your feet! This battle isn't over yet!"

With a big stroke of luck, Lucario had managed to climb back to his feet, his eyes glowing yellow. Electivire and Marcy were both shocked at the sight of this, too shocked to respond as Lucario opened his mouth unleashing a powerful yellow beam and sending his opponent flying into the wall. The gym leader simply marveled at this display. This was truly an amazing show of power. She couldn't help smiling as she returned her Electivire.

"That was truly astounding," she said walking towards Jacob who simply scratched his head asking, "Isn't the gym battle still going?"

Marcy shook her head and replied, "To me, you've already earned this badge," handing him a badge that resembled a screw.

Jacob smiled and jumped for joy while hugging Lucario. He had earned his forth gym badge. Sure, he felt a little bad for getting it without defeating all of Marcy's Pokemon, but the point was he had the badge now. Izy had told him not to let the reason he got the badge get to him just as long as he had it, and he planned to use her advice.

Speaking of Izy, he needed to at least catch the final round of the contest before it was over. When he and Lucario arrived, they were surprised to see Izy in the audience.

"Izy," Jacob said, sitting next to her, "What's going on?"

The girl shrugged and replied, "I lost. I faced an opponent who was too good for me."

"You're certainly a good sport for staying here," Jacob said, eyes shifting back and forth to make sure Roxanne wasn't there. He expected her to have joined this contest as it was, after all, a contest.

The judge stood tall and proud announcing, "It's now time for the final round! Our first finalist is Anna Mizuru!"

When Jacob saw Anna enter the area, receiving many cheers, it was clear to him why Izy had stuck around for the other rounds. It was because Anna hadn't lost yet and was using Vulpix for the final round.

Anna's opponent, a young red-head named Samantha, entered the area calling out a Pokeball with eyes known as Voltorb. The battle began with Voltorb using Sonic Boom, releasing a shockwave from his body.

"Vulpix, respond with Flamethrower!" Anna shouted as the fox nodded and unleashed a powerful stream of fire from her mouth.

Now, one would think this wouldn't stop a shockwave, but it did and it sent the shockwave in various different directions, the audience truly amazed by the display. Anna had used her opponent's own attack to earn herself score, Samantha looking rather annoyed.

"HOW DARE YOU TAKE ADVANTAGE OF ME LIKE THAT!!!??" the girl snapped, "VOLTORB, RESPOND WITH THUNDERSHOCK!!!"

The Pokeball-shaped Pokemon growled and unleashed a flurry of electric sparks that flew towards Vulpix and looked rather beautiful while doing so. Despite this, Vulpix dodged to the right and rammed into Voltorb, unleashing a beautiful quick attack, posing all the while in order to please the fans.

"Anna's gotten really good at this," Jacob stated as Lucario cheered, Izy sighing, "Yeah, she certainly has."

Jacob saw a down expression on the girl's face and placed an arm on her shoulder asking, "Are you jealous?"

Izy looked at him prepared to lie, but sighed and nodded her head. Jacob patted her on the shoulder and reminded her of the most important thing: Anna was their friend and Izy just needed to support her.

"Use Fire Spin!" Anna shouted as Vulpix unleashed a ring of fire around her opponent. Voltorb's eyes were wide open as he knew that he couldn't escape from this.

Vulpix proceeded to end it with a beautiful flame thrower to Voltorb's head, time running out and Anna's victory official. The girl received her medal with a very excited look on her face. She hadn't expected to actually win, and this was a very good feeling.

And so the friends were back together, Izy giving Jacob and Anna congratulatory hugs for both of their wins. Things were really looking up for the group, but what of the rest of the world?

We now go to the Team Advent headquarters where Palkia and Dialga had been placed in an inescapable room. Electricity flowed through it as Varen looked at this, laughing.

"You did a great job bringing these two in, Perona," he said, "I'm very proud of you. You were always my best worker."

"Thank you very much," Perona replied with a smile, satisfied that the boss favored her over Donavan and Jenna again.

"So, what will you do with them?" the woman asked as Varen grinned wickedly saying, "These two are going to help me capture the other legendary Pokemon. In only a couple of hours, they will be mine to control."

This was certainly looking bad. If Team Advent succeeded, this could very well spell the end.


	19. Chapter 19

Pokemon Quest

Once again, Jacob and his friends were on the road. This time, they were headed to Newheart City where the next gym leader awaited.

"So how long should this trip take?" Jacob asked as Izy looked over the map saying, "I'm afraid a trip to Newheart could take two days at least. If only we had a big flying Pokemon that we could all fit on, it would be so much faster."

Jacob sighed at the sound of that. She was right. Sure, Izy had four flying Pokemon, but only Noctowl could lift one of them, and that was pretty much it. He could lift only one of them. For some reason, Gligar could only handle human weight for a mere twenty seconds, Scyther was too thin for such a task and Beedrill… does one need to ask?

Jacob did have Heracross, but his wings weren't exactly the strongest around and even if the insect could help them travel, they would still end up leaving Anna behind. It was best just to walk as they could stay together that way.

"By the way," Jacob asked, "is there a specific flying Pokemon you have in mind?"

"As a matter of fact, there is," Izy replied with a look of hope on her face, "A bird of legend with the powers of fire, the roaring phoenix known only as Ho-Oh!"

Anna's eyes sparkled as she thought that was a great dream to have. Ho-Oh was one of the most beautiful bird Pokemon to look at as it had the design of the mythical bird, Phoenix. It also had brilliant green feathers on the ends of its orange wings and a golden tail. Despite the evil look in its eyes, it was rumored to be a source of eternal happiness.

But even Izy realized that dream was hopeless. Not only was Ho-Oh legendary, but it lived in the Johto region, so it was impossible for the girl to even set her sights on such a magnificent creature. Still, it was always fun to dream.

During their travels, Jacob heard a sound coming from a bush. His eyes glared at it only for a small green wolf-like creature with yellow streaks emerge from it. His and Anna's eyes sparkled, like they always did, at the sight of this magnificent creature known as Electrike.

"This is excellent," Jacob said, whipping out a Pokeball, "I always dreamed of catching an Electrike and it's finally about to come true!"

"Just for the record," Izy said tapping her foot, "is this truly the last dream Pokemon you have, because you seem to dream of catching a lot of Pokemon. What happened to your love of Heracross?"

"That's an excellent suggestion!" Jacob remarked, Izy rolling her eyes. The boy hadn't answered her question at all, and she figured it was because he didn't have a straight answer, not just the fact that he was distracted right now.

"GO, HERACROSS!!!" he shouted sending out the Hercules Beetle who stood tall and proud.

Izy blinked and slapped her forehead. Had Jacob really made such a rash decision because the girl had brought up Heracross' name? Jacob was normally big on strategies. This just seemed weird coming from him.

In all reality, though, Cacnea would have been a much better choice but Heracross wasn't a bad one either. Maybe he could defeat Electrike. Jacob knew to avoid using flying attacks against an electric type, so his first command was for the beetle to use Night Slash.

Electrike hadn't exactly been warned of this battle and didn't even know Jacob was there, so when Heracross struck her with his Night Slash, she was caught off guard and growled in pain.

"Excellent job, Heracross!" the boy shouted, "Now use Horn Attack!"

However, this did not hit as Electrike leapt to the side, dodging the attack and sending Heracross flying into a tree, his horn lodged into it. Since Electrike was a canine and an electric type, she was quick on her feet.

Heracross was unprepared as the green and yellow wolf bit into his arm, sending a jolt of electricity through his veins. This was known as Thunder Fang and it made Jacob started to worry, Izy biting her lip and Anna looking neutral as she seemed to be a lot of the time during situations like these.

Lucario wished he could take Heracross' place, but the infant believed in good sportsmanship and knew that only his master, whoever it may be, could make that decision for him.

The Hercules beetle charged in for another attempt as Jacob grinned and shouted, "Heracross, stop your attack and spin your body around with your arms out!"

Izy's eyes widened at the sound of this. What was Jacob thinking? All became clear when Electrike ran right beside Heracross to avoid the incoming attack. Heracross stopped the second Electrike made his move and threw his arms to the sides, one of them smacking into the electric wolf and causing him more pain, Electrike growling.

The wolf's eyes started to turn red with fury as Jacob blinked, now looking alarmed. He'd really hoped that strategy would have done more for him, but he saw from this anger that Heracross wouldn't be able to win this battle.

As Electrike charged towards the beetle, electricity surrounding his body for a Volt Tackle, which by the way Electrike shouldn't have known in the first place, Jacob pulled out Heracross' Pokeball and returned him, Electrike now charging towards the boy. Jacob's eyes sparkled even more. He wanted this Electrike more than ever. How it had learned this move was beyond his knowledge, but seeing the wolf use it was just incredible.

Izy panicked and leapt to the side shouting, "JACOB, ARE YOU CRAZY!!!!?? HE'S GOING TO KILL US!!!!"

But Jacob had gotten far better at acting quickly as he sent out a replacement Pokemon, trapping Electrike in a ring of fire forcing him to run through one of the flames and burn himself, stopping his attack in response. Another odd decision Jacob had made as this time he was going with Monferno. Like his last choice, Monferno wasn't a bad decision but she wasn't the best choice Jacob could have made for this opponent.

Nevertheless, the boy had a glimmer in his eyes as if he just knew what he was doing. Izy sighed with relief as Anna had a warm smile, both knowing that Jacob would win this. The abrupt Fire Spin had worked, after all, right?

Electrike leapt at Monferno who dodged to the side and put a scratch in the wolf's waist. Just like Electrike, Monferno was very fast, so this was looking pretty promising.

Electrike angrily charged at the monkey preparing a Volt Tackle, and instead of having the monkey dodge, Jacob grinned and shouted, "COUNTER WITH FLAME WHEEL!!!"

Izy's eyes went wide as her jaw dropped. Why couldn't Monferno just try to dodge it? But she wasn't going to question this. Jacob seemed to know what he was doing as the monkey surrounded her body with fire and rolled towards her target.

Then something even Jacob hadn't expected happened. The flame wheel glowed and seemed to grow bigger and when the two elements collided, fire ended up overpowering electricity as Electrike flew into a tree, out cold and Jacob hurled a Pokeball capturing the green electric wolf.

Anna's eyes sparkled when the flame wheel vanished, Jacob and Izy both wide-eyed at the sight that explained why the flame wheel had increased in size and might. The Pokemon who had emerged from the wheel of fire was not the Monferno who entered but a different Pokemon, in other words, the final form of Chimchar.

The monkey was much more balanced in terms of build and almost looked like the monkey shamans told of in folklore. She had white fur on her ankles and her torso. She also had golden wrist guards, knee pads and shoulder pads along with a marking around her eyes that looked like a red mask. Her tail had grown longer and instead of the flame being there, it was now on top of her head. Monferno had evolved into Infernape and Jacob couldn't have been more proud.

Izy just smiled and sighed with relief, quite happy to see two good things come out of the battle for Jacob. Why did she seem to care so much about his success? Sure, they were friends, but she truly felt there was more to it, but she couldn't put her finger on it.

Now that that's over, let's go back to Team Advent and see how they're progressing with Palkia and Dialga, shall we? Varen smiled wickedly, patiently awaiting his plan to finally come into play. However, his hopes were crushed when a Scientist entered his office without knocking.

"This better be important," the boss grunted as the man nodded saying, "It is, sir. It's in regards to the two legendary Pokemon Perona brought in."

Varen turned to the man with interest as the Scientist continued, "It seems controlling their minds is a lot harder than we thought it would be. Their power is off the charts, so far off the charts that it could very well take an entire week to gain full control over them."

Varen grimaced and snapped, "IT CAN'T TAKE THAT LONG!!!! CAN YOU IMAGINE WHAT COULD HAPPEN WITHIN A TIME LIKE THAT!!!!?? THEY COULD ESCAPE!!!!!"

"We're well aware of it, sir," the scientist replied, "which is why we've been conducting a search on some kind of weakness that would make the mind control work faster."

Varen hung his head with a sigh. Even he knew there was no way those two could have a weakness that Team Advent could get a hold of. It seemed highly unlikely.

But the scientist contradicted that thought when he explained that Palkia and Dialga were good friends of Shaymin. A search result had come up about their history explaining how a young Shaymin had provided her assistance in defeating the legendary menace, Giratina. Sure, she had not done a whole lot, but Palkia and Dialga owed her for the little she had accomplished, admitting that without the small bit of assistance she'd provided, Giratina could have turned things in his favor.

Varen grinned wickedly upon hearing this saying, "That's excellent. We happen to have that little friend of theirs."

Palkia and Dialga felt helpless as they remained in the room they had been trapped in, but suddenly a door opened as Varen walked in, the two dragons snarling their teeth wanting to rip open the big man just as a way to get vengeance on Team Advent, however they halted when Varen held up a small white hedgehog with a bush instead of bristles, the small legend in an energy cage.

The dragon's were shocked when Varen grinned saying, "Attack me and your little friend dies too."

Shaymin had a sad look on her face and started making high-pitched sounds to tell Palkia and Dialga not to worry about her, but they couldn't bring themselves to follow such a request. These two may have been ferocious in battle, but when it came to friends, whether they be used against them or not, they could not bring themselves to deal any harm to the ones they cherished.

"Excellent," Varen said, "Shaymin will be spared if you stop resisting my mind control machine and allow yourselves total and complete obedience."

The legendary dragons bowed their heads, Shaymin in complete shock as an electrical pulse filled their minds and their eyes glowed purple. Varen handed the legendary hedgehog back to his men and laughed hysterically. Now that the two dragons were under his control, his master plan was almost complete.

But unbeknownst to him, there was a small spy within the base sneaking about to be make sure it wasn't seen. In fact, there were three, all who were able to turn invisible. One had been hiding in Varen's office so as to hear out his plan. Another had been hiding in his office monitoring what his agent had captured. Finally, the third one had been hiding by the window that allowed people to watch Pokemon fall victim to the mind control machine to know just how far the evil man had gotten with his plans.

All three came together and agreed that they needed to report their sightings to Darkrai, who was the one giving them orders during all of this. These three were highly regarded in legends. One was Uxie, the being of knowledge. The other was Mesprit, the being of emotion. The third and final of the three was Azelf, the being of willpower. All three were to make sure Varen didn't go too far with his plans, and now that it seemed he was, they needed to take action and get the rest of the legendary Pokemon involved. They needed to hurry and defeat Team Advent before all legends were captured and suffered from the same fate.

They flew to the temple and reported their sightings, Darkrai's eyes wide with shock. He couldn't believe that Team Advent had gotten their hands on the most powerful of the legends.

"This has gone on long enough," Darkrai said, "It's time to take action. Uxie, Mesprit, Azelf, thank you for your cooperation. I am going to gather all the help I can get and launch a direct attack on those Team Advent bastards!"


	20. Chapter 20

Pokemon Quest

At last, the group of friends had arrived in Newheart City where the fifth gym leader lived. Jacob and Lucario were pumped and felt very confident about this… that was until they noticed a sign on the gym door.

"Let me guess," Jacob groaned, "the gym leader's not here, right?"

Izy looked over the note and nodded saying, "It would seem so," Jacob and Lucario sighing in disappointment. They felt really prepared today, too.

"Hold on, there's something else written here," Anna stated looking at the note herself, Izy blinking, ashamed of herself for not noticing… that is until Anna pointed to the message and revealed it to be in a rather tiny print.

"How can you even read that?" Jacob asked as Anna blinked, obviously unable to understand how the others couldn't read it. She then cleared her throat and was about to read it when a man walked over to them and asked, "Are you here to challenge my gym?"

Jacob smiled and sighed with relief, satisfied that the gym leader had, indeed, arrived. Now the long trip would truly be worth it. The man was about seven feet tall and was quite lanky. He had fancy black shoes and a scythe on his back. (Special thanks to jcogginsa for this one)

"Sorry for my lateness," the man said, "I was off on an important discovery. Anyway, the name's Aragon Schiffer."

The man turned to the gym door and knocked on it, a strange trap latching out, a vine trap to be precise. He grinned and pulled out his scythe slicing open the vines with the grace of a Scyther, Izy's eyes sparkling for the first time. Being a Scyther owner herself, she found this to be most intriguing.

"Don't just stand there," Aragon said when he entered his house, the kids and Lucario in shock, "Come on in. I don't have all day."

The kids shrugged and entered, not even bothering to ask why he needed to clear a vine trap just to enter his own gym. Maybe he just liked showing off his skills with the scythe, who knew?

Upon entering, Aragon grinned and said, "Here's how it works. You can use as many Pokemon as you want while I use three of mine."

Jacob grinned and said, "That works for me," Izy rather alarmed by this. Was Aragon just a good sport of did he have an ace up his sleeve?

Well, there was no time to think about that now as the man hurled a Pokeball into the battle area sending out a small swallow-like Pokemon with red, white and blue feathers. This was unexpected. Aragon had just sent out Taillow of all things.

'That's a rather low level for a gym leader,' Jacob thought, 'but then again, Jonathan had a Ledyba that ended up causing me some trouble, so I shouldn't take Taillow too lightly.'

With that, he hurled a Pokeball of his own sending out Electrike. Aragon nodded and folded his arms, a smile on his face as he said, "That was smart of you to pick an electric type to go up against a bird type, but I'm afraid this won't be all that easy."

Izy, Anna and Jacob weren't too worried by these words. At this point, they had pretty much come to expect this. Gym leaders were more skilled than average trainers, so it only made sense.

"START US OFF WITH AERIAL ACE!!!!" Aragon shouted as Taillow soared towards Electrike at a very fast speed. Jacob knew this attack couldn't be dodged, so he shouted his own command as the electric wolf stopped the bird in its tracks with a small electrical shock called Spark.

Taillow started to steam as it fell to the ground, but despite the damage dealt to it, it was still able to stand. Jacob's eyes narrowed as he prepared for the worst.

"Taillow, show them your Wing Attack!" Aragon exclaimed as Taillow flew at the wolf with its wings ready to attack, but unlike Aerial Ace, this could be dodged and Electrike was quite a fast specimen, so he leapt to the side and when Taillow passed him, he pounced at the bird knocking it to the ground and sunk his fangs into its back delivering Thunder Fang.

Taillow let out a cry of pain as it passed out, a bit of blood coming from its back as Aragon returned it. Jacob was glad that he'd won the first round so easily, but he was also disappointed. Over the past, the gym leaders had always had this strange ability to overcome any weakness their Pokemon had. So far, Aragon seemed incapable of that. Was this guy really a gym leader?

"Go Swablu!" the man shouted unleashing a small round blue bird with clouds for wings. Once again, the teens and Lucario were surprised to see such a weak Pokemon being used. Nevertheless, Jacob couldn't let his guard down no matter what.

The battle began with Swablu spreading out its wings as an array of ice rained down upon Electrike. This was known as Blizzard and the wolf hadn't been given the time to dodge it. Despite that, the electric wolf was still standing and to make a long story short, the rest of the battle was pretty much in his favor as Swablu went down with ease, not laying another finger on the wolf.

Aragon returned the ice bird with a smile and said, "Well, you're good. I'm already down to my last Pokemon. How embarrassing."

As the man laughed, Jacob didn't find this so funny and fumed. He felt like he was being insulted. This man had proven himself to be a total weakling. After all the others Jacob had faced before, he never expected to have such an easy time.

"GO HONCHKROW!!!!" Aragon shouted sending out a large crow-like creature with the feathers atop its head shaped like a fancy hat. This was the first threatening Pokemon Aragon had used, but Jacob was unfazed by this.

"So now you're trying to impress me, is that it?" he asked as Aragon tilted his head to the side, the boy continuing, "This battle has been a disappointment! You don't deserve to be a gym leader!"

Izy and Anna would have felt rather worried by these remarks if not for the fact that they agreed with Jacob on this one. Aragon had really shown no signs that he was all that great of a gym leader let alone all that great of a trainer.

"LET'S END THIS NOW!!!!" Jacob shouted, "HIT HIM WITH SPARK!!!!"

But as Electrike sent the jolt of electricity towards the crow, Honchkrow took off into the air and dodged the attack. He then put on a half smile and soared towards Electrike with his beak spinning like a drill. Electrike and Jacob were both too shocked to even respond as the attack sent the electric wolf reeling into the wall, Izy and Lucario's eyes wide open, Anna with her neutral expression.

Jacob saw that Electrike was too weak after that and quickly return him, turning towards Aragon who laughed, "You let your poor judgment get the better of you. Now the best Pokemon you had for this battle is useless."

"Who said Electrike was the best I had?" Jacob remarked, Aragon's eyes wide open as the boy continued, "I may not anything that your Honchkrow is weak against, but I trust my other Pokemon equally and they've all had more experience than Electrike."

With that, he hurled a Pokeball sending out a small cactus. Everyone's eyes were wide as Cacnea took a stand. This was a very stupid mistake as Cacnea was weak against flying type moves. But Jacob felt confident.

"First, use Leer!" the boy shouted as Cacnea nodded and let his eye glared at Honchkrow, who was currently flying towards the cactus for an Aerial Ace. The Leer had worked, but as an addition, Cacnea took in a hard blow to the face. Nevertheless, he rose to his feet as Jacob shouted another command, Cacnea firing one of his spikes at Honchkrow. Since neither the crow nor Aragon had expected Cacnea to survive Aerial Ace, both were unable to respond as Honchkrow took a poison sting to the back.

Unfortunately, this did not go quite as planned. Despite taking in the attack, the crow had not been poisoned and only had a small bleeding spot on his back as he turned around to fly towards Cacnea preparing another Aerial Ace.

Jacob bit his teeth, Lucario snuggled up against his leg while Izy and Anna were starting to look unsure. The strategy was a good one, but that one negative result had cost them the battle.

But just as Cacnea took in the blow at full force, he ended up climbing to his feet, breathing heavily. There was no way this was possible. The first time was already unbelievable enough, but a second time was just pushing it.

Then something strange came over Cacnea as he started to grow in size. Now he no longer just a head with arms with limbs but rather had a true body, torso and all. As usual, he was covered in spikes, but now his mouth was composed of more but smaller circles. His head looked like a roof of a temple only green and Anna's eyes sparkled at the sight of this, Jacob feeling so proud. Cacnea had evolved into Cacturne all for the boy's sake.

Aragon smiled and said, "Not bad," as Honchkrow delivered one last Aerial Ace, this time taking out the opponent for good. Despite that evolution, Cacnea, I mean Cacturne had still lost.

Jacob called his Pokemon back and said, "I'm very proud of you. You deserve a nice long rest after that."

With that, he sent out Infernape. This time, his choice hadn't been such a bad one as Infernape wasn't weak against Honchkrow. The battle started with Infernape unleashing its ember attack.

Honchkrow easily dodged and soared towards the monkey not for an Aerial Ace but a more powerful flying move known as Sky Attack. Luckily, Infernape wasn't as slow as Cacnea was, so she simply jumped into the air as the crow closed in, landing on the big bird's back and sinking her claws into the spot the poison stink had it and adding to the bleeding.

Honchkrow cried out in pain and fell to the ground as Jacob grinned confidently, Izy and Anna cheering from the sidelines. Izy sighed with relief and said, "Even though the poison sting failed to its job, it managed to do another."

Honchkrow lay on the ground as Infernape continued to hack at the bleeding spot with fury swipes, Aragon actually looking worried now. He then rose his voice shouting, "HONCHKROW, IGNORE THE PAIN!!!!! YOU CAN DO IT!!!!"

The crow's painful expression turned to one of confidence as he rose up to his feet, Infernape losing her balance and falling off of the bird's back. Then the crow glared at the monkey as its eyes glowed, a pain going through Infernape's veins as she'd taken in a Psychic Attack. While the monkey was unable to recover quickly, Honchkrow soared towards her with his wings turned to steel for the moment and struck her side hard with a Steel Wing attack. Infernape growled and fell to the ground in defeat, Jacob lowering his head and returning the monkey.

Anna had her neutral look on as Izy had a look of fear. She understood Aragon's strategy. He used his first two Pokemon to lower the opponent's guard so Honchkrow could make quick work of the best Pokemon that challenger had. Aragon was right about one thing: Electrike truly was the best Jacob had for this battle and thanks to Aragon's strategy, Electrike was too weak to battle further therefore Jacob's advantage was gone.

But despite this, Jacob still had a look of confidence. Izy couldn't see it, but Jacob had understood the man's strategy. What was with this look of confidence? The plan had already worked. What was Jacob up to?

"Let's see how you handle Floatzel!" the boy shouted sending out the weasel wearing a floatation device. Floatzel managed to land a couple of blows to the bird, but Honchkrow easily defeated her in a short time. Next up was Heracross, but as Heracross was a bug type, he wasn't the best choice and also went down fairly easily.

Sure, Honchkrow had taken in a bit of damage from those last two Pokemon, but it wasn't nearly enough to really hinder his performance. This crow Pokemon was truly spectacular and Jacob, while feeling unsure, was just glad to have a real challenge now.

"Well, it would seem you're down to one last Pokemon," Aragon said as Izy started to worry. Lucario didn't have much of an advantage over a flying type. Sure, he had those hidden powers, but he still had no control over them.

"You're right," Jacob said, shrugging and juggling a Pokeball in his pocket, then he shouted, "GO…"

Aragon expected Lucario to come rushing into the battle field only for Jacob to finish with, "ELECTRIKE!!!" hurling the Pokeball in his pocket too fast for the naked eye to see while the electric wolf emerged and hit Honchkrow with Spark as the crow cried out in pain and fell to the ground.

Aragon's eyes went wide as Jacob grinned saying, "Don't forget, you never actually defeated Electrike. You only dealt a little damage to him."

Izy let out a sigh of relief and said, "Of course. I knew that Drill Peck hadn't actually knocked Electrike out, and even I'm surprised."

Anna smiled warmly saying, "I knew this was his plan," Izy groaning in response. What was it with Anna being so calm most of the time?

Aragon grinned and said, "That was amazing. You took a risky move, using my own strategy against me. The only way it could work was for me to forget that your Electrike was still in good enough condition to continue. It certainly helped wonders, but not quite enough."

Jacob's eyes went wide as he realized Aragon was right. Despite the incredible amount of damage dealt by the electric attack earlier, Honchkrow was still able to move. This was ridiculous. How much more was it going to take? The crow had a large wound in his back, had taken in a few good blows and had just succumbed to an electric attack. What more did Jacob need to do? Izy and Lucario were afraid now as Anna looked neutral once again.

But just as Honchkrow was about to respond, an angry expression in his eyes, something came over Electrike as his body started to grow. It had now turned blue and the fur atop his head was now in a spike. There was a lot more yellow and he looked a lot more like a wolf now. Jacob and Anna's eyes sparkled as Electrike had evolved into Manectric.

Aragon had no time to respond as the wolf howled, charging towards Honchkrow with lightning surrounding his body. His head rammed into the bird's chest as Honchkrow's eyes became emotionless, the bird passing out as Aragon sighed, returning him to his ball.

But the bird trainer was also in shock. Had that Manectric just used Volt Tackle? It couldn't be.

But just before he could contemplate this further, a ringing came from his pocket as he pulled out a small cell phone. He nodded along with what was said and hung up saying, "Sorry, kid, I gotta take off. But take this, you've earned it."

Jacob smiled as he was handed a badge shaped like the front-side view of a beak. Not much was said after that as Aragon sent out a large bird known as Pidgeot and took off in a heartbeat.

"I wonder what's up with that," Jacob said as Izy shrugged and said, "Hey, you just won without Lucario's help. That's good, right?"

Lucario folded his arms with a disappointed look as Jacob let down a sweat drop saying, "Sorry. I kinda need you to still be standing for that strategy to work."

As Aragon took off through the air, he smiled and thought, 'So someone finally caught that Electrike. And here I was worried no one would catch him after he escaped from the lab.'


	21. Chapter 21

Pokemon Quest

Before we go back to our main character, let's see where Aragon went, shall we? He'd been called away for a very important meeting and if he didn't show up it could have very well cost him his position as gym leader.

'I can't believe someone caught that Electrike,' he thought as he was only minutes from a small house in a mountain region, 'When we injected that thing with Pichu DNA and saw it actually gain one of its best attacks, we were thrilled. Then it escaped the lab somehow. I never thought I'd see it again.'

The landed was perfect as Aragon hopped off of Pidgeot's back returning her to her Pokeball saying, "Thanks, good friend, but now it's time you got some rest."

As soon as he entered, his jaw dropped as he let down a sweat drop for the others had already shown up before him. Four of the people who showed up were Sarah, Jonathan, Derk and Marcy, but there was another there that hasn't been introduced yet. She had snow white hair and a rather gothic selection of clothing and her name was Veronica.

"How did you guys show up before I did!?" Aragon spat as Veronica rolled her eyes replying, "You took the long way again, you idiot. For god's sake, you fly here yet you don't take good advantage of that."

Aragon's jaw and eyes were twitching and he was about to retaliate to that statement when the door to the only other room in this small house opened up, a young man with short silver hair and a business suit approaching. He bowed to the six gym leaders and took a seat in front of them, silent for a little while.

The others stared at him waiting for what he had to say as he glanced at the group asking, "Well, aren't you going to ask why I've called you here?"

The gym leaders all fell back in their seats in response to this and got up rubbing their tender spots. As soon as they sat down, Sarah simply sighed, "Kevin, you have to stop doing that."

"Stop doing what?" the man known as Kevin replied as the girl sighed, "Never mind."

"So why did you call us here?" Derk asked as Kevin nodded and turned to Jonathan saying, "Wipe off that silly grin of yours. It's creepy."

Jonathan looked down, his creepy smile still on his face as he said, "I can't help what I am."

Kevin slapped his forehead. He'd forgotten that smile never left. He grumbled a bunch of curses to himself before Marcy banged a wrench against his head bringing him back to reality.

"Sorry, guilt trip," he said as the others twitched, growing really impatient at this point.

Finally, Kevin cleared his throat and said, "It's time you guys know what's going on. Regretfully, the eighth gym leader, Clarissa, could not be here. She's out on a very important investigation. However, I have sent her a letter about this most pressing matter."

Upon hearing those last two words, the gym leaders started to grow concerned. What was this 'pressing matter' he spoke of? Did it involve Team Advent?

"Here to help me explain the situation is a very special guest," Kevin said as Aragon's eyes widened, the boy slamming his hands into the table and snapping, "KEVIN, YOU'RE NOT SUPPOSED TO LET OUTSIDERS IN HERE!!!! WASN'T THAT YOUR RULE!!!!??"

Kevin nodded and remarked, "I made it, I can break it," and that shut the bird trainer up for good while the leader turned to the door he'd entered from and said, "You can come out now."

The gym leaders all stared in absolute shock when a ghost-like Pokemon entered the room. Kevin pointed to the chair that was originally to be filled by the gym leader named Clarissa and the Pokemon shook his head acknowledging the fact that he was unable to sit.

"Is that Darkrai?" Marcy asked with sparkling eyes as Kevin nodded his head replying, "Darkrai is an old friend of mine. We met a few years ago under rather unfortunate circumstances, but these very circumstances helped develop a good friendship between us."

Darkrai nodded as the others were simply amazed. The ghost-like being immediately went to the point as he said, "We are in a time of crisis! Team Advent has captured Palkia and Dialga!"

This was certainly an alarming thing to hear. But when Darkrai explained that the two were under Team Advent's control, this caused a serious panic throughout the room. There was just no way this could be possible.

"Are we doomed?" Veronica asked as Kevin shook his head saying, "That jerk Varen's plan isn't going to work until he has control over each and every legendary Pokemon in the continent. Once that's done, he'll use their power to summon Giratina from the prison the two dragons locked him in years ago."

"We have to stop him!" Aragon shouted rising up from his seat as Kevin signaled him to sit back down saying, "Don't worry, we will in due time, but we can't just rush into his base and expect him to go down so easily."

Kevin walked into the back room for a few minutes while the others were silent. They were about to object to all of this when Darkrai gave them a look that told them not to worry.

After a minute or so, Kevin walked out holding a master ball, the others in shock. They'd heard rumors that Kevin had a rare Pokemon sealed up in a master ball but never truly believed it until now.

Kevin handed it over to Darkrai and explained, "Here's the plan. Darkrai is going to gather all of the others along with my most powerful Pokemon. See, I can only assume that if we launched an attack, Varen would send out Palkia and Dialga to attack us. We know very well that we cannot take them and Team Advent at once, so Darkrai has agreed to face the two dragons along with the other legends."

"I see," Veronica replied, "And while that goes on, we storm the Team Advent headquarters, right?"

Kevin nodded and the plan was clear. The man looked out the window and sighed, "This is a big risk we're taking, but if we wait any longer, it could very well get worse. It's best that we take down Team Advent now before it's too late."

And so the plan was clear. It was a fairly complex one, but it made sense. There was no way Team Advent could prepare for this. They never would have expected that the gym leaders would even know of this recent action of theirs.

Meanwhile, Donavan and Jenna were face-to-face with a very powerful sea serpent-like Pokemon called Gyarados. It was said to be one of the most powerful water type Pokemon in the world, so the duo had to get it for their boss.

Unfortunately for them, their Pokemon weren't doing all too well. All had taken in heavy damage from the serpent's hydro pump.

"Well, this blows," Donavan groaned as Jenna sighed, "I guess we're just going to lose another target."

But that moment of doubt turned to one of hope for the two as something started to come over Rhydon and Dragonair. Could it be that they were evolving into their final forms?

Dragonair's body transformed entirely into that of a tough dragon with yellow skin. She now had arms and legs along with strong wings and a horn atop her head. She had become Dragonite.

Rhydon's body became a bit bigger, his tail rounder and his skin darker. He also had what looked like red armor around his head and chest and what looked like two cutters coming out of his arms. Rhydon had evolved into Rhyperior. (BTW, I am well aware that can't just happen naturally)

Jenna and Donavan let down tears of happiness as the two went in to teach Gyarados a lesson, allowing the duo to capture it. The Team Advent members were so proud of their allies they didn't even care that they'd just captured a powerful Pokemon.

Meanwhile, Jacob, Anna, Lucario and Izy were all headed to the next town, Jadetown, unaware that the gym leader here was off on important business. During this time, the group hadn't realized that they were being watched. Not by the obvious suspects but rather a much more qualified member of Team Advent, namely Perona.

'I don't understand,' she thought as she looked back to earlier this day.

She had been called down to Varen's office where the man told her of how he'd gained control of Palkia and Dialga. Of course, Perona was thrilled to hear this, but what he said next was shocking.

He showed the woman a photo of a young girl with green hair. How he managed to get that was beyond her knowledge, but she did recognize the figure in the photo as the girl traveling alongside Jacob and Izy.

"I want you to get me this girl," he said, "Don't fail me."

Perona grinned wickedly as she pulled out a gun firing a beam that hit Anna in the back. The girl's usual calm smile turned to a look of shock as she fell to the ground, unable to move.

"WHAT THE HELL JUST HAPPENED!!!!??" Jacob spat as Izy looked up towards the source, scowling.

Jacob saw what she was looking at and grimaced. He recognized Perona's face anywhere. She was the one who single-handedly defeated his entire team with only one Pokemon.

Lucario growled angrily as the girl leapt down from the tree saying, "I'd love to stay and chat, but I only need the girl," firing beams at the two other teens. Like Anna, they were unable to dodge it and fell to the ground.

Perona picked up Anna and held her over her shoulders while Jacob shouted, "YOU GIVE HER BACK!!!!!" trying his hardest to move his body. Even Lucario was unable to move as the woman just laughed, "Try as you might, you can't move for another ten minutes. That's the power of my stun gun."

Izy and Jacob just lay there, eyes wide open and jaws dropped while Lucario let down tears. Perona had completely shown up out of nowhere and kidnapped their friend. Team Advent had gone too far now.

Izy breathed heavily as Jacob looked at her with concern. He knew how strong her grudge against the organization was. But she wasn't the only one angry right now. Anna was Jacob's friend too.

"Forget what Darkrai said," he stated as Izy's look of anger turned to shock.

"What do you mean?" she remarked as Jacob turned to her with a serious look and saying, "Come on, I know you're thinking the same thing. Darkrai may have told us not to get involved until it was necessary, but now those jerks have gone too far! We're going to break into their headquarters and get Anna back!"

Izy's eyes went wide as a smile crossed her face. It was good to know that Jacob had the same idea as her. That way, no one could stand in her way. Jacob was a very good friend in her mind.

But there was just one problem. The teens had no idea where Team Advent's headquarters were. How were they going to find it? This was quite a predicament.

Speaking of Team Advent's headquarters, the gym leaders were there right now hiding behind a bush atop a hill just outside of the dirty city the criminals ruled over. Kevin was discussing the strategy that would be used.

"So we're all clear on the plan, right?" he asked as Aragon nodded replying, "I especially like that we're going to be splitting up for this."

"Yes," Kevin replied, "you'll be splitting up into teams of two."

Aragon let out a groan as he remarked, "You know I work better alone!"

"BS!" Sarah snapped, "We all know you just love to show off in front of others!"

"DON'T START WITH ME!" Aragon snapped as Kevin shushed them stating, "You guys better get along. I'm pairing you two up," the two gym leaders letting down light tears of disappointment.

But before they could plan any further, they noticed a Garchomp flying towards the base. They ducked down so not to be seen as the dragon flew over them.

Sarah's eyes widened when she saw a woman riding atop it with a familiar young girl in her arms. She got up with fury in her eyes shouting, "THAT WITCH HAS MY SISTER!!!!"

"Calm down," Kevin said, grabbing onto her shoulder and stopping her, "We're sorry this had to happen, but we can't let little events like these ruin our plan. Besides, everyone held captive will be free when this all comes together, so don't be alarmed."

Sarah nodded with her look of fury refusing to leave her face, sitting down and taking a sigh to calm her nerves. She looked up with worry in her eyes and thought, 'Don't worry, Anna. I'll save you from their evil clutches.'

Perona entered Varen's office with the young girl in her arms as Anna had just woken up. Her eyes went wide as a rare occurrence was happening: the girl was afraid.

Varen got up from his seat with a smile and open arms saying, "Hello, Anna. I haven't seen you since you were just six years old."

Anna trembled, not knowing what the man meant, and she didn't trust him either. She may not have met him before, but seeing his office and how Perona had taken her to him and no one else, she figured that this man must have been Team Advent's leader. But what did he want with her?


	22. Chapter 22

Pokemon Quest

Anna glared at the man before her suspiciously, another rare sight. Her hatred of Team Advent was certainly strong. She felt emotions around them that were almost unheard of in her world: Hatred, anger and spite.

"Why do you look so angry?" Varen asked, "You should be happy to see me."

"Why should I be glad to see you?" the girl retorted, "You are a despicable man who steals Pokemon! That isn't right!"

Varen sighed and rested an arm on her shoulder saying, "Look, Anna, I do not wish to fight you. It seems you've forgotten over the years who I am. Does the name Varen ring a bell?"

Anna blinked and just stared at him. Clearly the name rang no bells in her head. Varen sighed and walked over to his desk, pulling out a photo.

"Anna, have you ever wondered about the mother you grew up with?" he asked as Anna shook her head saying, "I already know she's not my real mom. Nothing about her physical appearance matches me in the slightest. But I'm sure my real mom must have been a nice person."

"That she was," Varen replied, Anna looking a little shocked after hearing that, "She and I had a great relationship. You have her hair."

"You were friends with my mom?" she remarked as the man shook his head replying, "I wasn't just friends with her. I was married to her."

Anna's eyes went wide as she backed up into a corner. As mentioned, to see so much fear and terror in her expression was a very rare sight, but can you really blame her? She had just heard that she was the daughter of Team Advent's leader.

"You're lying," she said as the man showed her the photo and all doubt of his words left the girl's mind. The photo showed Anna when she was only three. A beautiful young woman with long green hair was in the photo holding up Anna. Sarah, who was five at the time, was standing next to a younger Varen and all four stood together for a family photo.

"No, this isn't true," she sniffed as the man sighed, "You can deny it all you want, but the proof is in the pudding, or in this case the photograph. Your mother died from a terminal disease when you were only six, so I had you and Sarah adopted to another woman knowing I lacked the parenting skills to raise you myself."

Anna let down tears for the first time in years and asked, "Sarah was older than me. She should have known."

"Yes," Varen replied with a grimace, "I guess she didn't remind you because she knew the truth would hurt you too much. But see, I'm not really evil. I'm just misunderstood."

Perona had been listening to this conversation the whole time and was bewildered by what she just heard. Even she couldn't believe it, but the man had photogenic proof. Perona wouldn't have even guessed that he'd been married at a time, let alone being the father of a gym leader and her younger sister.

"What do you mean misunderstood?" Anna remarked, feeling very untrusting, which was also rare for her as the man continued, "Do you want to know why I plan to take over the world? It is because our current leaders don't know how to take care of the world. I tried becoming a world leader legally, but they turned me down, so I have to use force. You see, I intend to make this world better for humans and Pokemon alike! I want to improve the world, not ruin it!"

Anna's eyes sparkled as a smile came over her face. She saw the sincerity in the man's eyes and just felt that he was telling the truth. But Perona knew better. She knew that what Varen had just said was a lie. Varen's plan had always been to enslave humanity and luckily for him, he was expert on faking sincerity, so it was always hard to tell when he was lying.

Anna gave the man the hug he had been waiting for and said, "Daddy, I'm so sorry I mistook you for a bad guy! I want to help make the world better!"

"Yes," Varen replied petting her head, "Remember, you should never be afraid to step over those who try to stop you for they are the ones who won't listen to reason. Anna, with your help, I'll be sure to fulfill my wish of a better world."

Then he stood up with Anna by his side and said, "Come. I want to show you something."

The gym leaders were still outside the base undergoing mission briefing. It was official. Sarah and Aragon would break in from the roof as Aragon had flying Pokemon to make that possible while Sarah's Pokemon could break a hole in the roof with ease. Derk and Marcy would go in through the front door as they could easily burst their way through enemies. Their main job, however, was to find Team Advent's mind control machine and dismantle it. Finally, Veronica and Jonathan would take out the guards watching outside the windows. Apparently, these two were very skilled in stealth operations.

"What are you going to do, Kevin?" Aragon asked as the man sighed, "I intend to take out the top generals; however, I need Clarissa's help. I hope she gets here soon."

We now take you back to Jacob, Izy and Lucario who had come to the realization that getting to Team Advent's base would be harder than they first thought. However, things changed when noticed a tall woman with a tan-colored skin walking by holding a map.

"Oh, hello," she said turned to the kids with a smile, "My name's Clarissa. What are you doing out in the woods?"

Then she noticed the Lucario next to Jacob and looked down with sparkling eyes, pet him on the head and said, "How cute."

Jacob and Izy had expected Lucario to panic, but for some reason, he actually had an odd sense of trust in this woman. It was as if he could feel positive energy coming from her.

Jacob simply looked at her and said, "We're just hiking," but unexpectedly, Izy pushed him to the side and said, "Our friend has been captured by Team Advent. We need to find their base. Can you help us?"

Jacob's eyes went wide as he whispered in the girl's ear, "What are you doing? Why would she even know?" as Clarissa simply smiled and said, "I'm going there myself. I can take you with me."

The two simply stared at the woman. This looked a tad suspicious, but Lucario seemed to have no trouble with her. If Lucario of all creatures could trust this woman, then the teens could look past the fact that she was a complete stranger and put their faith in her as well.

The woman hurled a Pokeball into the air sending out a large sting ray-like Pokemon known as Mantine. Unlike most water types, Mantine had the ability to fly, so this was the perfect transportation they needed. Why hadn't she used it earlier instead of walking into the forest? At this point, it didn't really matter, for if she had used it earlier, she wouldn't have even seen the teens.

Meanwhile, Darkrai had gathered many together and was headed towards Team Advent's base right now. By his side were Uxie, Mesprit and Azelf of course. However, he had brought far more than just those three with him.

One was a rather odd but also quite beautiful female. (I know they don't really have genders, but to be honest, I never really liked that idea) She had something resembling a hat atop her swan-like head and the hat-like shape resembled a crescent moon. She had a body like a sky-blue swan with white down the middle and had three beautiful pink half-rings around her. This was the Psychic Pokemon, Cresselia.

"It is quite odd you'd call upon me for my services," the swan said as Darkrai sighed, "I needed the best help I could get. Don't think for a minute that this makes us friends."

Yes, in the past, Darkrai and Cresselia were enemies. In fact, Darkrai used to be evil. But Cresselia eventually showed him the error of his ways and he only fought for the side of good now.

Cresselia, like Darkrai, had her own allies helping her in this battle. One was a small water Pokemon with a short body and a big head along with a pair of antennae. She was known as Manaphy and many dreamed to seeing her outside of legends. The other resembled Manaphy a little bit, but his body was much shorter and his head much bigger. And instead of antennae, he had what looked like a long hairpiece flowing in the wind. He was known as Phione.

Three legends were traveling by foot along the ground. The one we already expected to be there was Heatran, but he had a few others with him. One was a large robot-like being with bushes surrounding his legs and shoulders and crystals going down the front of his body. He was known as Regigigas. He was the leader of three others, a rock Pokemon named Regirock, a moving ice crystal named Regice and a steel warrior known as Registeel.

The last of the land-movers resembled a cross between a wolf and a centaur. It had a white body and a yellow ring with two other rings coming out of it around his mid-section. Each side had four crystals around it. Along with that was a row of golden hooves. This was the fighting legend known as Arceus. He was probably the strongest one among the five land-movers for he could change his type at will.

"I never thought I'd ever have to battle again," the centaur said with a sigh as Heatran nodded and said, "I don't like this either, but don't forget that this isn't for us."

There was a reason the legends were separated. See, they knew that Palkia and Dialga would be dangerous together, so their first plan was to separate the two. The flyers would battle Palkia while the land division would take on Dialga.

Donavan and Jenna had just returned to the Team Advent headquarters to show Varen their captured Pokemon, but when they entered his office, he wasn't there. Perona just sat there saying, "Varen's busy. I'll take what you've captured and let him know you caught it."

Of course, being rather envious of the two, Perona's real intention was the steal the credit for Gyarados' capture, but Donavan and Jenna were rather gullible, so they saw no problem with this. All of this was going to lead to biggest battle the world would ever face and Team Advent was completely unaware of this.

Speaking of which, let's check up on Varen and see what he just had to show Anna so desperately. He entered a room with a large cabinet and said, "Anna, this is where all the Pokemon my organization has captured go. I believe your preference is rock types, correct?"

Anna nodded and said, "I love using rock types."

Varen pulled open a door with a picture of a stone on it and said, "Take your pick. You are allowed to have more Pokemon to give you the right number of Pokemon if you desire."

Anna's eyes sparkled. This was very exciting. She had to pick these very carefully.

The first she chose was a dinosaur with a large blue spot on its head known as Rampardos. Not only was Rampardos powerful, but Anna also thought it was pretty cute.

The next one she chose was not just a rock type but also a bug type. Like Rampardos, she looked like a dinosaur but also had a very odd look to her face. Nevertheless, Anna liked the look of this one, namely Armaldo.

But before she could pick the third one that would complete her Pokemon team, Varen pulled a Pokeball out of his pocket and said, "Take this one," handing it to her. She released the Pokemon inside and her eyes sparkled as they always seemed to do so.

Remember that Larvitar from earlier? Well, he'd evolved into his final stage. He was now a big fully grown dinosaur-like creature and his named was Tyranitar. Anna let down tears of joy and said, "Thank you so much, Daddy. I'll be sure to treat them with love and care."

"I know you will," Varen said, placing a hand on her shoulder with a smile, "I know."

Soon enough, the legends had arrived and it was time for the gym leaders to move out now that the very beings who would stop Palkia and Dialga from attacking them were here. But Clarissa had not shown up, so Kevin agreed to stay behind until she'd arrived.

It was just after the gym leaders left to take on their own missions that a large Mantine soared into the area with four passengers riding on its back. Kevin shook Clarissa's hand and said, "Your timing is impeccable. But what's with the kids?"

"They're here to save a friend," she replied as Kevin sighed, "We can't let them do this."

"Please let us!" Jacob pleaded, bowing to the man, "We need to get into Team Advent's base! It's the only way to get our friend back!"

Kevin was about to object again when he saw a Lucario right next to the boy. Could this be the young trainer Darkrai had told the man of?

"What is your name, son?" he asked as the boy looked up replying, "Jacob."

Kevin grinned and agreed to let the kids tag along with the mission. Jacob and Izy were relieved to hear this, but of course, this meant Kevin needed to assign a job to the duo. In the end, he decided they would enter from wherever they chose to battle the Team Advent agents. Taking them out would certainly make the job easier.

And so the attack had begun. An all-out war was about to erupt and Team Advent was none the wiser.


	23. Chapter 23

Pokemon Quest

To start things off, let's check up on Sarah and Aragon. The two had landed on the roof riding atop Aragon's Pidgeot as Sarah pulled out a Pokeball hurling it into the air and summoning an Onix. (I just realized I've been spelling this wrong the whole time)

"Onix, use Dig on the roof," she said as the rock snake nodded and dove into the roof putting a hole in it. Sarah and Aragon started to panic as they realized just how stupid this was, Sarah returning her Onix almost immediately after the hole had been made.

"Do you think he made too much noise?" Sarah asked as a voice replied to this question with the words, "I think it made just enough noise, thank you."

The duo turned with fear to see a Team Advent agent right behind them keeping himself in the air with a propeller machine. What was most surprising was that this agent was a kid. That's right, he was just a simple kid.

"What are you doing here, son?" Aragon asked, "If you could make that, you should have escaped long ago."

"I'm not being forced into this!" the kid retorted, "My name's Max and I am the ultimate bird trainer!"

Aragon's eyes twitched when he heard those words. The ultimate bird trainer? How dare this kid try to strip him of his rightful title?

"Sarah," Aragon said, turning his gaze to the girl, "Go into the base without me. I gotta teach this kid a lesson he'll never forget."

Sarah fumed in response to this, knowing that Aragon was being headstrong again, but he was right about one thing: the whole point was for the two to break into the base. This kid was nothing more than a distraction and if both fought him, it could ruin everything. At least one of them had to go into the base and make sure some of the guards were taken care of.

That coming to mind, Sarah nodded and summoned a tree-like being known as Sudowoodo. Despite the fact that he looked like a tree, this was a merely a ploy as Sudowoodo was actually a rock type.

Derk and Marcy stood in front of the door as the agents standing watch spotted them and sent out their own Pokemon. The two nodded at one-another and sent out their own Pokemon. One was a UFO-like being with two magnets for hands known as Magnezone. The other was a large horse with fire for its mane named Rapidash. The two made very quick work of the guards and it seemed Derk and Marcy were having it easy.

They continued to take out more guards within the building until a flame shot from nowhere and hit Derk hard in the back. The man scowled and turned around as Marcy placed a hand on his shoulders asking, "Are you okay?"

"Please don't touch my burns," he requested, but his eyes widened when he noticed a familiar face staring at him.

"Miles, what are YOU doing here?" he asked as Miles rolled his eyes saying, "How could you already forget that I'm a member of Team Advent? You are so clueless it's funny."

Derk growled and snapped, "Why did you leave the gym!? Why would you serve the side of evil!?"

"Come on, even you should know the reason," Miles remarked, "You see, when Varen takes over the world, I want to be on his good side so he doesn't make me his slave."

Derk's expression went from angry to furious as he sent out a large dragon named Charizard to join Rapidash. Miles grinned, quite pleased to see his opponent cutting right to the chase.

"If you're gonna fight him, I'm going to help!" Marcy shouted with anticipation as Derk placed his hand on her shoulder and shook his head saying, "I need to teach this man a lesson myself."

The Pokemon Miles had used to burn Derk earlier was the evolved form of his Magmar, Magmortar. His body was bigger now and his hands looked more like cannons with claws attached to them. He proceeded to pull out another Pokeball, summoning Camerupt to the field.

Now, you and I both know this wasn't his old Camerupt, but Derk didn't know this, so he figured that he needed to be careful against this one. Although, in all honest, he wasn't expecting to win. He knew that Miles was a far stronger trainer than he was and as much as that pained him, it was something he had learned to accept over the years.

Derk remembered that Marcy was still standing there and turned to her shouting, "GET GOING ALREADY!!!" the mechanic's eyes widening as she nodded and took off. While she ran down the hall, she sighed and thought, 'Derk, you'd better turn out okay.'

Veronica and Jonathan were doing their fair share of work as well. Jonathan was using a pair of suction cups to climb up the wall while his insects flew next to the windows taking out any guards who might have been looking out them.

Meanwhile, Veronica was also climbing the walls while her Pokemon were performing similar tasks from within thanks to the fact that they were ghost types. One was a rather spooky creature with a creepy smile across her face, much creepier than Jonathan's, and her name was Gengar. Her other Pokemon looked very much like a genie with the head of a mummy. His name was Dusknoir.

Soon enough, the guards were taken care of as the duo entered the building. Jonathan was just about to celebrate the fact that the first part of their plan had worked when Veronica held a finger over his mouth, hushing him and whispering, "I hear something."

Her eyes widened as she shouted, "GENGAR, USE SHADOW BALL ON THAT CORNER!!!" the purple fiend firing a ball of energy at a corner of the wall, an explosion forming.

A strip of paper fell from where the ball had hit as a young woman could knelt down in pain. The woman was dressed like a ninja and was very slender.

"You managed to see through my clever tactics," she said, "I am Asuna, pleased to make your acquaintance."

She bowed to the gothic gym leader who grinned, feeling rather proud of herself. But this moment of satisfaction ended when the woman, much to Veronica's surprise, whipped out six Pokeballs and hurled them towards the ground before the gym leader.

Veronica was about to give Gengar a command, expecting six Pokemon to come out, but was surprised when nothing happened. The Pokeballs just sat there, Asuna with a very suspicious grin on her face.

"This is my wild Pokemon test," she said, "One of these Pokeballs contains a Pokemon within it. But I've set them specifically so you can only launch an attack at one of them. If you get the wrong one, your Pokemon will sustain a serious blow, but if manage to choose the correct one, the Pokeball might end up too damaged for me to summon my partner."

Veronica's eyes went wide as Jonathan looked at this, then he stepped forward with his creepy smile looking more determined than usual saying, "I'll make things a little easier."

"No," Veronica remarked, "You go on ahead and see if there are any others coming. I wish to take this one myself."

Jonathan would have looked concerned, but it was just against his nature not to smile. But he figured that Veronica knew what she was doing and directed his bug Pokemon outside of the room, following after them.

"You're quite brave," Asuna said, "You have the will of a true warrior."

"Why, thank you," Veronica said with a grin, "but this warrior is going to pass your test!"

The woman closed her eyes, tapping into her true center. She needed extreme focus to figure out exactly which ball Gengar's opponent would be hiding in.

She felt a strong aura coming from the forth ball and pointed at it shouting, "GENGAR, USE SHADOW BALL ON THAT ONE!!!"

But as the ball hit, the second Pokeball opened up as a cutting motion emerged, hitting the ghost dead-on knocking him out for good. Veronica grimaced and returned Gengar as Asuna laughed.

"You surprised?" she asked, "That was my special Pokemon, Sableye."

Veronica's eyes went wide when she noticed a rather short creature standing there, doing a victory dance of some kind. This was a purple gremlin-like creature with diamonds for eyes and its name was Sableye.

"That was wonderful, Sableye," Asuna said, hugging the creature affectionately, "That Shadow Claw of yours has really overpowered all your other attacks."

Now Veronica knew the source of the attack, but if a shadow claw could defeat her Gengar in one hit, who knew just how powerful this thing was? All the Goth knew right now was that she was in trouble.

Nevertheless, she had to win and all she had left was her Dusknoir. There was no way she was going to lose.

Varen was showing Anna more of his base and had taken her to a room full of computers when he heard an alarm go off. He shifted his eyes back and forth asking, "What is all this!?"

He turned on a monitor as his eyes went wide with shock. All the legendary Pokemon were coming towards his base. Soon that look of shock turned into a wicked smile.

He pressed a button opening up the roof of the building as Palkia emerged carrying Dialga with him. Just as Darkrai had predicted, Palkia went after the air troops while Dialga went after the ground troops. Things were now going just as planned.

As Darkrai and Cresselia closer and closer to the base, Darkrai was caught off guard when a flame hit him from above. He recognized this as Dragonbreath.

As the dark Pokemon attempted to shake off the pain, Uxie, Mesprit and Azelf flew towards Palkia, who was flying right above them, and circled around like a twister ramming their heads into the dragon's chin. While Palkia was distracted, Cresselia released a beam from the tip of her nose hitting one of the dragon's wings, covering it in ice. That was a powerful ice move known as Ice Beam.

Palkia struggled to stay airborne, but ended up drifting downwards to where he was no in front of those who had stayed lower. However, his slight disadvantage was gone when he managed to shatter the ice around his wing.

Before the dragon could do anything else, Manaphy cupped her hands together and unleashed a powerful water ball known as Water Pulse, hitting Palkia in the chest. The dragon was ready to react when Darkrai's three little assistants fired their most powerful attacks down upon him and Phione unleashed his own water pulse.

Darkrai had finally regained focus as he glared at Palkia, raising his arms in the air and forming a ball made entirely out of dark energy. He held it in his arms and hurled it at the dragon dealing major damage, but despite that, he wasn't fully confident yet.

"That was a fairly good start to the battle," he stated, "but this is far from over."

The land movers were close as well when Arceus saw something in the distance. It was a small glimmer of light and this made his eyes go wide.

"DIALGA'S COMING RIGHT FOR US!!!!" he shouted, "NOW, HEATRAN!!!!"

The Steel and Fire dinosaur nodded as he slammed his foot hard into the ground, a crack headed right towards Dialga. The wolf dragon saw the Earthquake attack headed towards him as he leapt over it, but like every other land creature in the world, jumping left him vulnerable, therefore he was unable to dodge an incoming blast of fire known as Magma Storm.

The wolf shook off the pain and growled only to notice a hyper beam coming right for him courtesy of Regirock. But there was more. Regice decided to add to the power by combining his Ice Beam with the powerful blast and Registeel added more power with Zap Cannon.

The three beams collided with Dialga, the wolf dragon roaring in intense pain as Arceus charged towards him unleashing a powerful shockwave known as Earth Power. The others eventually caught up while Dialga shook off the pain dealt from the attacks as Arceus sighed, "Even though I knew that wouldn't finish him off, a part of me was really hoping it would."

Jacob and Izy had managed to enter through the back door. Yes, Team Advent had a back door. Why? Even I can't answer that.

But just as the trio had been lucky enough not to run into any agents along the way, their eyes widened when they saw two familiar faces standing before them.

"Hello," Jenna said with a smirk, "Fancy meeting you here."

"You didn't think you could just sneak in here and face our boss without going through us, did you?" Donavan added while Izy gritted her teeth.

"Why do you guys even bother!?" she snapped, "You know very well that you can't beat us!"

Donavan and Jenna grinned before sending out their Pokemon, Jacob and Izy both shocked by the fully evolved Dragonite and Rhyperior. The duo laughed as Jenna said, "Now's the moment where you finally fall to us!"

"I have awaited this day for far too long," Donavan said with a grin, "We're finally going to beat them!"

"Who said you'd beat us?" Jacob remarked, "So your Pokemon are fully evolved. That's really not a big deal to us."

Izy nodded and pulled out two Pokeballs, sending out Noctowl and her new Gligar to go up against Purugly and Dragonite. Jacob nodded at Lucario who entered the battle against Crawdaunt and Rhyperior while Jacob threw in a Pokeball sending Infernape into the battle. Now, this wasn't exactly the smartest move as both could take in quite the beating from Donavan's Pokemon, but as they were the first two Jacob had received, the boy had a lot of confidence in them.


	24. Chapter 24

Pokemon Quest

The battle between Max and Aragon was not going too well. Aragon had already lost three Pokemon while Max both of his Pokemon out and in rather good health considering how many Aragon had used. One was a fierce bird known as Fearow. The other was a strong and buff bird called Staraptor.

Aragon looked down and sighed. He pulled out two Pokeballs saying, "This is it. You two are my last hope."

Max laughed fiendishly and said, "You should just give up. My Pokemon have both been trained to be able to take on entire flocks of birds! What chance can you possibly have!?"

"You may think it's over for me," the gym leader remarked, "but you haven't seen the true powerhouses of my team yet."

With that, he hurled two Pokeballs into the air summoning Honchkrow and… a Scyther? What was a bird trainer doing with that? Let alone that fact, why would he even consider using it against two overpowered birds?

Max simply broke out into hysterics as Aragon grinned wickedly saying, "My Scyther may be weak against your birds, but wait until you see just how powerful he can be."

Max stopped laughing and sighed, "Alright, Fearow, let that Scyther hit you. Show him that you can stand up to his attacks."

The Scyther soared towards the ferocious bird and sent out an X-Strike to its chest. Now, this being a bug type attack, it shouldn't have dealt too much, however, when this attack landed Fearow cried out in intense pain as its flesh opened up, blood literally raining out as if Fearow's chest was a fountain. Then the bird fell flat on his back as Max was just about to return it only to twitch and let down tears.

"It's not worth it," Aragon stated with a serious expression, "That Fearow of yours is dead. I didn't want to have to resort to that."

Max was furious now. How dare his life's work be in vein? Things were only looking worse for him as Honchkrow hit Staraptor with a Hyper Beam knocking the bird to the ground. Unlike Fearow, Staraptor had lived, so Max returned him and let down tears.

"How could a bug type do that much damage to a bird type?" he asked as Aragon smiled and said, "Stop crying and I'll tell you."

Aragon remembered very well the day he'd met Scyther. He was only 8 years old at the time and was simply playing in his back yard which was out on a pasture. Yes, he wasn't born in the same place his gym was located.

During this, he noticed a Scyther being attacked by a flock of bird Pokemon. Feeling concerned, he ran over with a pitch fork shouting, "LEAVE THAT SCYTHER ALONE!!!!"

The birds flew off as the Scyther fell to the ground, covered in bruises. Aragon ran over to the bug Pokemon and took him in to be treated. And thus a friendship had started.

"Hey, Scyther," he said while he applied ointment to the wounds, "why were those birds attacking you?"

Scyther looked down as Aragon gasped, realizing that the birds had no reason. He felt sorry for the poor bug, but what could he do?

"I've got it!" he shouted, "I'll train you to stand up to birds of all forms! You'll never be bullied by one again!"

"So you see," Aragon said in present time, "like your birds, I trained Scyther to become virtually unstoppable, though unlike you, I made him good enough to defeat even the very beings he's weak against with no sweat. The only Pokemon he couldn't possibly beat are the legends."

Max nodded in understanding and admitted defeat. He knew that Aragon was far too powerful a trainer for him to take.

Meanwhile, Derk and Miles were at each other's throats, not literally of course, as their Pokemon continued to duke it out. Charizard scratched Magmortar hard across the face delivering his Dragon Claw but the fire duck-like creature was not going to fall to such a simple attack. He shook off the pain send a thunder punch to the dragon's gut, Charizard crying out in pain while Miles laughed.

"I'm still better than you," he said as Derk grinned and remarked, "Oh, really?"

Miles wondered what the man meant until he noticed Rapidash taking Camerupt apart. Camerupt attempted to hit the horse Pokemon but Rapidash was far too quick to be hit by such a slow creature as she dodged to the side and rammed her horn into his face.

"This is unexpected," Derk stated, "It might just be me, but Camerupt seems weaker than usual."

"SHUT UP!!!" Miles retorted, "Once he uses Earthquake, that advantage of yours will be gone!"

Silence filled the area as Derk blinked and folded his arms asking, "So, is he going to do it? I'm prepared to lose, you know."

Miles let down sweat and sighed, "Alright, you may as well know. This Camerupt doesn't yet know Earthquake."

"How did that happen?" Derk remarked as the evil gym leader spat, "My old Camerupt drowned, alright!? This is his replacement!"

Derk's eyes went wide for a moment until he put on a serious expression and said, "I see. That must have been hard on you. I'm sorry for your loss."

"What are you yammering on about!?" Miles retorted, "I'm the enemy! You shouldn't be feeling sorry for me!"

"Excuse me!" Derk retorted, "Pardon me for having a sense of morals! You may be the enemy, but that doesn't stop you from having feelings! Forgive me for caring, you jerk!"

Derk realized that he was being harsh. He knew that Miles didn't mean what he'd said either. However, everything Miles had done made Derk angry, so angry that he didn't care. He wanted the former gym leader to pay for his actions.

"BOTH OF YOU FINISH THE JOB!!!!" he snapped as Charizard and Rapidash first charged at Magmortar, realizing he was the biggest threat in this battle. With a bit of team work, they dodged everything Magmortar used to try and stop them, taking the creature out for good.

All that was left was Camerupt who started to tremble as Miles returned him along with his other Pokemon saying, "My old Camerupt was much braver. This guy can't seem to battle tough opponents without help."

"You may talk down on him, but I know you care for that Camerupt, right?" Derk asked as Miles glared, refusing to respond to that question.

Derk smiled, knowing that Miles still hadn't completely gotten over the loss of his old Camerupt. The two had so much history. The truth was Camerupt was the first Pokemon Miles had ever trained.

As a child, Miles didn't have much of an outdoor life. His parents made him study most of the time so he hardly ever went outside. He watched the other kids play and felt envious. He wished he could just join them.

See, he didn't know what he wanted as a career, and he only accepted his parents' drive to make him smarter so he could achieve the potential to get any kind of job when his goal became clear to him. He had majored in being a surgeon, mastered almost everything there was to know about Math and could write an English essay that was beyond Shakespeare-worthy.

However, the reason he could never decide which of his courses was more important was because none of these jobs he was overworked to gain were right for him. He just didn't realize it for he had no ambition.

One day, he was on his way to the store when an old man walked over to him and said, "Little boy, I see emptiness in your eyes. You don't feel satisfied by your undying success, do you?"

Miles thought hard about this and eventually shook his head saying, "No, I don't know what I want in life and I don't even think I'm going in the right direction."

"Perhaps you shouldn't worry about such advances careers and do something exciting," the old man said, "But you have to consider this. Someone with your brains could truly benefit mankind."

That was true. Miles knew the importance of the careers he was working towards. He had enough knowledge of all these concepts to be a Scientist or a doctor or even an astronomer. But he didn't see anything enjoyable about these things. They may have been important, but there were many others who were far more experienced than him in a single one of these work fields. Why should the world need him when it had all the help it needed already?

"You want excitement," the old man said handing him a small ball, the boy's eyes wide.

"Do you know what this is?" the man asked as Miles nodded happily saying, "It's a Pokeball! People use it to capture Pokemon!"

The old man nodded and said, "Come with me. I'll help you catch your first Pokemon with that ball."

The man allowed Miles to borrow a clam Pokemon called Shellder to assist him. The old man took him to the mountains outside of his hometown where he knew Pokemon weak against Shellder, a water type, dwelled. However, catching a Pokemon with it as his partner was harder than he'd imagined. Even the Geodude living there were too good for Shellder to overpower.

"This is hopeless!" the boy shouted after ten attempts, "Even with a water type, I can't beat these things!"

"Don't give up," the old man said with a warm smile, "Just keep trying."

Suddenly, the boy saw a small camel with one hump walking by. This was a Numel, something he'd only dreamt of ever owning. Was this a sign? Maybe he could catch this one.

"GO SHELLDER!!!" the boy shouted unleashing his Pokemon who started off with an attack called Clamp. Despite being a physical attack, this was technically a water type move, so it dealt major damage to the Numel.

The Numel shook it off and unleashed an ember as Miles had the clam use Protect. With this move, he hid in his shell to avoid taking in any damage from the oncoming flames, not that they would have done much anyway.

Miles had a burning fire in his eyes as he shouted, "NOW USE BRINE!!!!"

The old man didn't even think Shellder knew Brine, but as luck would have it, his Shellder just learned it on the spot as if Miles' newfound passion was giving the clam Pokemon power. Numel felt very weak, too weak to escape as he was consumed into the Pokeball.

Miles let down tears of joy hugging the old man and crying, "Thank you so much, Mister! I know what I must do! I'm going to be a Pokemon trainer!"

And so he returned the old man's Shellder and eventually caught a small Magby, the pre-evolutionary form of Magmar. Through tough times, the two Pokemon developed into mean fighting machines and Miles was eventually accepted as the Mossberg gym leader.

Miles sighed and turned his back to Derk, folding his arms and saying, "Well, go on ahead, Derk. I can't stop you anymore."

Derk let out a soft chuckle and walked past the man. He knew Miles wasn't truly as evil as he'd let on.


	25. Chapter 25

Pokemon Quest

The battle between Asuna and Veronica seemed to be a stand-still. Sableye and Dusknoir attempted to hit one-another only to miss with each attempt. Asuna had a look of determination while Veronica had one of anger. How hard was it to hit a Sableye?

Well, Sableye was a very quick and nimble Pokemon. How Dusknoir had not been hit at this point was a mystery.

Sableye aimed a good Shadow Claw at Dusknoir as the mummy-like ghost glared at it and sunk into the floor, Sableye missing completely and looking confused. Sableye was just where Veronica wanted it to be? Suddenly, something was coming over Asuna as her eyes closed. Veronica could feel a strange power coming from her, but what was it?

"Dusknoir is going to appear right behind you in two seconds," she said as Sableye shifted his body around immediately. As predicted, Dusknoir rose up seconds later only to receive a Shadow Claw to the face.

The ghost cried out in pain as Sableye struck him in the chest with a Shadow Ball and sent him flying into the wall. Veronica's eyes went wide, the Goth running over to her Dusknoir and embracing him asking, "Are you okay?"

"How pitiful," the Team Advent ninja stated, "Do you realize how disgraceful it is for a warrior to get sympathy from others after losing?

Veronica started to shake with anger as Asuna continued, "Honestly, it would be better if you just returned him to his Pokeball now and spared him the humiliation of defeat. All you're really doing is making him feel bad about his loss."

Veronica looked at Dusknoir who seemed content with her there. What did Asuna know? These two had a strong bond that had gone on for years.

When the Goth gym leader was ten years old, she didn't have much of a social life. She grew up without any friends because she was too shy to make an effort. Whenever she went to school, she would avoid eye contact with everyone except the teachers. It worried her mother a lot but most of all it worried the girl's father.

"Veronica," the man said with a sigh, shaking his head, "I don't know what to do with you. Do you even want to make friends?"

The gothic girl looked away from him, refusing to answer his question. The man grimaced and said, "No daughter of mine is going to spend her life friendless!" and with that, he locked her out of the house and snapped, "Come back when you have a friend!"

Veronica couldn't believe it. Her own father had kicked her out of the house. Now she had to make a friend, but no matter how hard she tried, she couldn't bring herself to say a simple "hello" to anyone.

Feeling lost and helpless, she ran to her favorite place, the local graveyard in her hometown. This was her sanctuary, the one place she truly felt at peace. She liked to believe that all the ghosts and spirits here were her friends. It helped the girl feel at peace.

Suddenly, she heard a noise coming from behind one of the tombstones and turned with a worried look shouting, "WHO'S THERE!?"

The being started to tremble behind the tombstone, Veronica feeling a tad sorry. She didn't mean to scare anyone, and this was truly hurting her chances of making a friend.

The Goth walked over to the tombstone and sat by the side the figure wasn't on, her back rested up against it. She sighed and said, "I'm sorry. I shouldn't have freaked out like that. I was just startled is all."

The being poked its head out from behind the tombstone and slowly approached the side Veronica was on, the girl's eyes wide open. This being wasn't a person. It was a ghost with a skull mask and a glowing red eye.

"I know what you are," the girl said, "You're a Duskull."

The ghost became shy again upon hearing that name and quickly floated behind another tombstone, Veronica running over to the tombstone and shouting, "I'm sorry!" placing her hands atop the stone and peering over to the side the Duskull was on.

After a few moments, Duskull's fear left him and the two got to talking… well, Veronica was doing all the talking. Duskull just listened while she told of how she'd been too shy to find a friend all her life. Duskull's eye started to sparkle during the conversation. He had finally found someone to relate to, someone who was just as socially awkward as he was.

From that moment on, the two became great friends. Veronica would come back to the graveyard to visit him every day and the girl's father was just glad she had someone to talk to.

One day, Veronica was in her room drawing a picture of her ghost Pokemon friend when her father called her into the kitchen. She sighed and entered the room asking, "What chore do you want me to do now?"

The man smiled and pulled out a small ball, Veronica's eyes going wide. He handed it to her almost instantly and said, "I am giving you this so you can capture that Duskull friend of yours. I think you two should be partners. That way, he can live under our roof and you can see him all the time."

Veronica was rather skeptical about his at first, but she discussed the idea with Duskull and the skeleton ghost seemed to like the idea… well, it did take Veronica about ten minutes to convince him while he attempted to escape from what he saw as 'imprisonment.' He wouldn't have even accepted if not for the fact that Veronica was his only real friend in the world.

And ironically, Veronica's life improved in many ways now that Duskull was with her all the time. She had found the confidence to talk to other humans in her school and just became all-around more socially active. At the age of thirteen, she started using Duskull for battle. It wasn't her decision but Duskull's. He wanted to be impressive like every other Pokemon owned by a human, and let's just say Veronica's boost in confidence boosted his as well. It was as if the two had an unbreakable bond.

Over the course of three years, Veronica earned herself quite a reputation and won a contest going on to decide who the new gym leader should be. Shortly after that, she found another ghost Pokemon, a flying all known as Ghastly. She had Duskull duke it out with the ghost. As a result, Duskull evolved to its next form, Dusclops, and Ghastly became Veronica's second Pokemon partner.

The Goth got to her feet and turned to Asuna shouting, "THIS DUSKNOIR MEANS MORE TO ME THAN A HEARTLESS WOMAN LIKE YOU COULD EVER UNDERSTAND!!!!! DO YOU EVEN CONSIDER THAT SABLEYE OF YOURS A FRIEND!?"

Asuna laughed and remarked, "Don't be ridiculous. Pokemon aren't friends. They are merely weapons used to help you in battle."

Sableye turned to his master upon hearing. He had a sad look on his face, but he knew that he couldn't turn on Asuna. She had the power to seal him up in his Pokeball forever. He was bound to her and had no choice but to follow her commands.

Veronica fumed in response to these words. What kind of trainer was this ninja girl? She had no compassion for others. Such a being should not be allowed to own a Pokemon.

"YOU ARE DESPICABLE!!!" she snapped as Dusknoir angrily ignored the pain coursing through his body and rose. Veronica turned to him with a serious look and nodded, the ghost cupping his hands together and forming a large ball of energy.

Asuna laughed and said, "You just don't know your limits, do you?" and shouted, "SABLEYE, HIT HIM BEFORE HE CAN ATTACK!!!"

Sableye growled and stood there, folding his arms as Asuna turned to him and growled, "Do you want me to put you in your ball and never release you?"

Sableye trembled with fear before turning to his opponent and charging towards the ghost only for Dusknoir to release a large Shadow Ball three times the size of a normal one. Sableye covered his face, knowing he couldn't dodge this, but after five seconds, he didn't feel anything.

He uncovered his eyes and turned to see his master, Asuna out cold. The Shadow Ball had not been aimed at the Pokemon but at his trainer.

Veronica walked past Sableye who refused to stop her. The Goth proceeded to swipe Asuna's Pokeball and turned to Sableye saying, "If you want, you can come with me. I promise I'll take good care of you."

The gremlin bits his lip letting down tears. This was the happiest moment of his life. He simply embraced Veronica as the girl smiled, returning him to his ball and keeping it for herself.

'You see?' she thought looking at Asuna's unconscious body, 'Showing respect for your Pokemon is not a waste of time. Just like us, they are living, breathing beings.'

Jenna and Donavan were quite pleased to see their fully evolved Pokemon performing better than ever before. Gligar was on the ground groaning with pain and Noctowl had Purugly's claws digging into his back while pinning her there. Jacob's Pokemon weren't doing much better as Infernape was pinned up against the wall by Rhyperior and Crawdaunt had Lucario trapped between his pincers.

Jenna laughed maniacally shouting, "FINALLY, YOU TWO THORNS IN OUR SIDES HAVE BEEN DEFEATED!!!!"

"This is truly a celebratory moment," Donavan said with a grin, "the boss will be so happy!"

Izy had an angry look as she gritted her teeth and clenched her fists. She couldn't believe this. The two has-beens of Team Advent were now beating her. This filled her up with rage she had never felt before.

Jacob bit his lip and trembled, worried that Lucario was going to die. When Lucario cried out in pain, he shouted, "STOP THAT!!!!" and lunged towards the battle area.

Izy stared wide-eyed and blinked. Was Jacob insane? That may as well have been the case for he had thrown himself at Crawdaunt, attempting to strike the crab with his fist.

Crawdaunt simply let go of his victim and held his hand out, blocking the incoming fist and hurled Jacob into the wall. Lucario saw his master out cold and let down tears as did Infernape. Jacob had sacrificed his health for Lucario's sake. His head was hurting badly and his arm was bleeding from Crawdaunt's claws.

The infant let out a cry of rage as he glared at Crawdaunt, his eyes glowing yellow. The crab had no time to respond as Lucario opened his mouth, unleashing a powerful Hyper Beam and knocking him out.

Infernape gritted her teeth and struggled before releasing her arms from Rhyperior's grip. It didn't stop there either. Her fist glowed as it hit the rhino hard in the chest. Despite the fact that Rhyperior had armor, this couldn't protect him from a fighting type move as he was weak against fighting attacks like Mach Punch.

The monkey proceeded to charged at the rhino unleashing a series of strikes. Close Combat had done a lot but it also hurt Infernape with recoil damage. Despite this, Rhyperior had been defeated and fell on his back hard, Donavan returning his two Pokemon with a sigh.

Upon seeing this, Izy smiled as she started to feel more hopeful. It had looked completely hopeless for Jacob's Pokemon and yet they still pulled through. If they could do it, certainly her Pokemon could too.

"DONAVAN, HOW COULD YOU LET THAT HAPPEN!?" Jenna snapped, her Pokemon glaring at the man as well. The man simply grinned nervously and let down a sweat drop saying, "Sorry, I was unprepared for that."

Izy saw this as the perfect opportunity as she mouthed silent commands to her Pokemon. They nodded and flew towards their distracted opponents, Gligar slamming his scorpion claw hard into the back of Dragonite's neck Noctowl delivering a more powerful than usual peck to Purugly's back.

Purugly had taken in quite a bit of damage prior, so this peck was more than enough to finish the fat cat off and the attack Dragonite had just succumbed to was Guillotine, a move that was ensured to knock out whoever it hit.

Dragonite's neck was now bleeding as Jenna stared wide-eyed and turned angrily to Donavan shouting, "LOOK WHAT YOU MADE HAPPEN!!!!!!??"

"I'm sorry!" the man cried, "I'm terrible!"

And with that, Jenna returned her Pokemon in frustration and the duo fled. Despite them escaping once again, Izy was satisfied. To make things even better, Gligar's body was starting to change.

His wings were now three times the size they were before and his flesh was now purple rather than pink. His scorpion claws had been replaced with large crab claws and his teeth were a lot sharper. His tail was also longer with two stingers instead of one and his face was more menacing to look at. This new Pokemon Izy saw before her was Gligar's evolved form, Gliscor.

After that nice moment, she remembered something important and ran over to where Lucario and Infernape were now standing. The back of Jacob's head was bleeding along with his arm. Izy let down tears looking at his Pokemon and said, "I'm sure Jacob's okay."

The group stood there for another minute and got no response, and to make things worse, Izy heard no breathing coming from the boy. No, it couldn't be.

Lucario broke out into heavy tears as Infernape sniffed, but before Izy had lost all hope Jacob opened his eyes slowly and asked, "What's everyone crying about? Did we lose?"

Izy's eyes sparkled as she embraced the boy in a rough bear hug, the boy groaning in pain while the girl shouted, "JACOB, IF YOU EVER WORRY ME LIKE THAT AGAIN THE NEXT ONE WILL KILL YOU!!!!!!!!"

The boy shuddered at the thought and soon all seemed like it had turned out for the better. With Donavan and Jenna taken care of, it was time for the group to move on. They had to stop Team Advent from achieving their plans no matter what.


	26. Chapter 26

Pokemon Quest

Things had started to look bad for the legends. Despite their best efforts, Palkia and Dialga were finally starting to overpower them. Let's start with the air movers since they were mentioned first in chapter 23.

Manaphy and Phione were looking extremely weak after Palkia had hit them with each with Dragon Claw. Darkrai and Cresselia had landed many blows to the dragon such as Dark Pulse and Aurora Beam. However, Palkia shook off the pain easily and was still fighting strong as ever.

Mesprit, Uxie and Azelf were unable to fight back as they were busy making sure Manaphy and Phione were okay. The two water spirits had taken in so much damage that they needed to be carried inside a magical barrier created by the trio. If it hadn't been for these three Pokemon, the siblings would have fallen for their death.

Darkrai grimaced and commanded, "Uxie, Mesprit, Azelf, leave us! This is too dangerous! We'll take Palkia by ourselves!"

The three gave him a worried stare as Cresselia nodded and stated, "It's for the best. If Manaphy and Phione regain full strength, don't hesitate to join us again, but until then, we want you to be safe."

The land movers, while they certainly packed more of a punch, weren't doing too well either. Heatran and Arceus were the only ones still standing as Regirock, Regice and Registeel had been vanquished.

Even Regigigas had been thwarted. What were the two to do with their best allies out cold?

"I'm surprised we even lasted longer than they did," Arceus sighed, "Dialga's going to kill us."

"He won't do that," Heatran replied, "Varen wants us captured, so Dialga has no motivation to go that far."

"WE NEED TO END THIS NOW!!!" Arceus snapped, "And I have a plan! You know how he can slow down time, right?"

Heatran nodded while blinking, not sure where the centaur was going with this. Arceus grinned and said, "I'll go in to strike him while you unleash Earthquake. He'll be too busy trying to hit me with his Roar of Time to notice your attack."

"But wait," Heatran remarked, "Roar of Time doesn't just slow you down! It also deals more damage than any of his other attacks can! You'll be hurt!"

"So what?" Arceus replied, "We were expecting to lose this battle, anyway. Our job is to slow him down, not beat him."

The dinosaur replied as he stomped his foot hard into the ground. Arceus charged at the wolf dragon while Dialga did exactly what the centaur expected him to do. He opened his mouth and let out a loud roar, drastically slowing Dialga down to the point where it looked like he wasn't moving at all.

But before the wolf could add to the damage, the Earthquake struck him from underneath and sent a great pain coursing through his veins. To make things even better, time had returned to normal for Arceus and the centaur looked as if he'd taken in no damage from the previous attack, opening his mouth and striking Dialga with Hyper Beam.

Darkrai noticed Palkia preparing another attack as his eye gleamed, the ghost creating ten copies of himself. This was known as Double Team, and the one Palkia's attack hit was merely an illusion.

Darkrai saw this as the perfect opportunity to hit the dragon with another Shadow Ball while Cresselia added to the damage with another Aurora Beam. This was turning out better than expected. The good guys were actually winning this battle.

But seconds before this could happen, a cage with energy bars floated up into the area above them. Darkrai's eyes went open when he noticed Shaymin locked in this cage as did Heatran from down below.

"Shaymin, are you okay!?" Darkrai asked as an image of Varen appeared within a beam of light above the cage.

"Hello, gentlemen, or gentle monsters, whichever you prefer," the man stated as the legends scowled at him. How dare he show his face after all he'd done? Of course, Varen was simply creating this image from his office, which Anna had left for a reason yet to be revealed.

"I have your precious Shaymin in my grasp," the man said, "but I assume you already knew that."

"What are you planning!?" Cresselia snapped as the man simply grinned replying, "I intend to blow your little friend to smithereens."

Darkrai's eyes went wide when Palkia regained focus and started charging up its dragon breath, head facing Shaymin's cage. To make things more complicated, Dialga noticed the cage and started charging an attack of his own, pointing up towards the floating cage, Heatran and Arceus in panic.

Varen was truly a despicable man. He had gone so far to threaten the life of a great friend to the legendary Pokemon just to get his way.

"DON'T KILL HER!!!!" Darkrai spat, knowing it was pointless, but much to his surprise, Varen shrugged and replied, "Fine. I won't."

No, this was too good to be true. Cresselia and Darkrai both knew something was going on.

"What's the catch?" the ghost-like Pokemon asked as Team Advent's leader gasped and remarked sarcastically, "How did you know there would be one? Well, I think it should be obvious, but you're going to have to trade your freedom for hers. Yes, I'll even go so far as to release her."

Darkrai lowered his head, feeling rather ashamed it had to come to this. He knew it would ruin life as he knew it, though, but what was he to do?

Shaymin let out various cries as Darkrai took in her words and said, "I'm sorry, Shaymin. I know you'd be happy to sacrifice yourself for the greater good, but we legends stick by one-another through thick and thin. I will not sacrifice your life."

"And that is why you fail," Varen replied smugly as a series of choppers surrounded Darkrai and Cresselia, collars placed around their necks. As part of the deal, they were not to resist, so soon enough their lives belonged to Varen.

Heatran and Arceus had just received the same treatment. Since the Regi Pokemon had a natural immunity to mind control, they were simply ignored. They'd taken in too much damage to continue anyway.

But luckily, Varen didn't know that Mesprit, Uxie, Azelf, Manaphy and Phione were hiding behind a rock nearby. The five witnessed the event take place as the legendary heroes had given their freedom over to Team Advent.

"As promised, I will release Shaymin from her cage," Varen stated, "She's useless to me now anyway."

However, he had not freed Shaymin in the way Darkrai had hoped the man would. Instead, the bottom of her cage was opened up as she fell towards the ground. If she landed, she would surely suffer a fatal injury at the very least.

But as luck would have it, Darkrai's three faithful companions were nearby. As Manaphy and Phione no longer needed the barrier to protect them, the trio flew over to where Shaymin was about to land and formed a bubble made entirely out of energy. The second the hedgehog Pokemon touched it, her body was slowly consumed into the bubble.

Shaymin opened her eyes and was quite relieved to see the light surrounding her, but she couldn't remain happy knowing that he top fighters had sold their souls to Team Advent. However, it was a good thing Varen didn't have the remaining five.

See, Varen had no intention to using the Legendary Pokemon themselves to enslave the human race. He only wanted one Pokemon, and that was the legendary Giratina. His plan was to revive the ancient Dragon who had almost destroyed life and in order to do that, he needed the combined power of certain legends. Two dragons, a spirit, a swan, two water sprites and three magical creatures: without the five little ones, Varen could not accomplish his goal.

Within Team Advent's base, Sarah stormed through the hallway on Onix's back while he and Sudowoodo plowed through various agents. But just when things were looking up, Onix ran into something large and blue and this caused him to stop abruptly.

Sarah recovered from the shock of it all and noticed that this obstacle was a Nosepass. When she saw the owner riding atop it, she let out a smile and sniffed saying, "You actually escaped, Anna!"

"I can't escape if I'm not a prisoner," the young girl replied, leaping off of Nosepass as Sarah blinked asking, "What are you talking about?"

Anna explained to Sarah what Varen had told her as the woman's eyes went wide. Anna wasn't supposed to know that Varen was her father.

"Anna," Sarah sniffed, "do you honestly believe that dad intends to bring peace to mankind!? HE'S TRYING TO SUMMON A BEING THAT ALMOST DESTROYED EARTH!!!!!"

"Yes, but daddy can control him," Anna replied, "You only think he's evil because you're scared of change. If you can't accept what he's doing, I'll have to stop you."

Before Sarah could respond, the girl pointed forward shouting, "Nosepass, use Earth Power on that Onix!"

Sarah gritted her teeth when Nosepass stomped his foot against the ground causing the Earth to vibrate underneath Onix, the rock snake crying out in pain. Sarah had to do all she could to stop Varen's plan, and if beating her sister was the key to this, so be it.

"Alright, you little brat," Sarah snapped, "If you're truly going to serve the side of evil, I have no choice but to stop you!"

Sarah put on a serious look as she shouted, "ONIX, USE IRON TAIL!!!!!" the rock snake temporarily changing his tail into a metal one and struck Nosepass over the head. Before the totem could respond, Onix rammed his head into Nosepass' skull and proceeded to wrap his snake-like body around the totem's body. This was known as bind and Onix was barely long enough to pull it off on this giant walking menace.

However, much to Sarah's surprise, Anna simply smiled and said calmly, "Use rock throw," Nosepass prying Onix off of him and using the snake as a rock, hurling him into the wall.

This was actually enough to finish Onix as Sarah gritted her teeth, returning Onix to his ball and snapped, "Anna, you are far too gullible for your own good! I am only doing this because I care about you!"

Next up was Sudowoodo. The tree-like Pokemon glared at Nosepass as Sarah said, "I don't care how you do it, but I want you to hit that thing with Wood Hammer."

"I cannot allow that," Anna replied while giving Nosepass a command, the totem attempting Earth Power again. Luckily, Sudowoodo was faster than Onix, so all she needed to do was leap over the incoming tremor and land her branch straight into the totem's face.

Despite being a physical attack performed by a rock type, Wood Hammer was a grass type attack so Nosepass took in major damage from it. Sudowoodo proceeded to unleashing a series of Hammer Arms, which was a fighting type move.

It all seemed perfect until Anna smiled warmly while saying, "Use Rock Smash."

Sarah was shocked. How had Nosepass learned Rock Smash? Nevertheless, the attack hit Sudowoodo hard and the tree-shaped creature was out like a light.

'This is it,' Sarah thought, pulling out her last Pokeball, 'You can do it, Golem.'

With that, she sent out a turtle with a boulder-like shell. Sarah gave her Golem a command as the creature stomped his foot against the ground, unleashing Earthquake.

After all the damage taken in earlier, Nosepass could not deal with anymore and passed out. Anna returned him with a smile and said, "You may have beaten him, but you have five more to deal with."

What? What did Anna mean by five more? Didn't the young girl only have two Pokemon?

"Make me proud, Rampardos!" the girl shouted as she released her new dinosaur from his ball. Sarah was shocked and before she could even respond, Golem was done for. How could this happen? Sarah had always been better than Anna. How could Anna have become so strong?

"Either join us or leave," Anna stated with a rather cold tone of voice, her usual smile gone, "I beat you, so you have to leave Daddy and his plans alone!"

Sarah fell to her hands and knees, letting down tears. How could this have happened? This was horrible.

But just when things were looking their worst, a young boy's voice entered the area shouting, "ANNA, YOU'RE FREE!!!"

Sarah was shocked to see Jacob and Izy there as they ran over to their friend, embracing her and shouting, "We were so worried about you!"

"It's okay," Anna replied as Sarah grunted, pointed a finger at the young girl and spat, "THAT IS NOT MY SISTER!!!!"

"What do you mean?" Jacob asked as Anna smiled and replied, "She's just mad because I've joined Team Advent in their quest for world peace."

Izy's eyes went wide as Jacob had no idea how to respond. Lucario clung to the boy's leg, frightened now. Anna was the nicest person he'd ever met. How could she work for Team Advent?


	27. Chapter 27

Pokemon Quest

Jacob glared at who he thought was his friend. Why had Anna betrayed them? And all this talk of Varen being her father… this was all too much.

Finally, Jacob sighed and pulled out a Pokeball saying, "Anna, if you're going to try to stop us, I'll have no choice but to challenge you to a battle."

"I'm very sorry it had to come down to this," Anna replied, bowing to him, "but you just don't understand daddy's plan."

Izy would have wanted to take a stab at Anna herself had Anna not had such a good history with the group. It was obvious to her that the young girl was simply being manipulated. Izy wasn't mad at Anna, just disappointed that she would believe the filth that came from Team Advent.

"Lucario, Infernape, you guys took in a lot of damage in that last battle," the boy said, "so you deserve a nice rest," sending out Cacturne. As Cacturne was a grass type, he was a very good choice to battle rock type Pokemon.

As the battle began, Jacob yelled, "CACTURNE, USE SPIKES!!!" as the two-legged cactus nodded and send a row of spikes around the area. This was a smart move on Jacob's part. What this meant was that every time Anna switched Pokemon, the replacement would take in damage from the spikes scattered across the floor.

Rampardos charged at the cactus Pokemon only to take in a Needle Arm to the face. Being a rock type, he took in major damage from this. But it didn't end there. Cacturne sent the dinosaur flying with another needle arm followed by Pin Missile.

Rampardos shook his head, ignoring all the pain he had taken in, Jacob, Izy and Sarah's eyes wide open. How could the dinosaur stand after all of that? They could have pondered this further had Anna not forced the dino to go all-out.

First, Cacturne had his guard down when Rampardos slammed into him with Take Down, ignoring the recoil damage. He then proceeded to deliver some more damage with an attack called Pursuit followed by a psychic physical attack known as Zen Headbutt in which his head glowed a brilliant blue light and sent Cacturne flying.

But rather than feeling alarmed by this, Jacob simply grinned and shouted, "CACTURNE, USE REVENGE!!!!"

Rampardos was unable to respond as Cacturne rammed his fist hard into the dinosaur's chin, knocking him out for good. Not only was Revenge a fighting type move, but its strength was greatly increased whenever the user was hit before using it.

Jacob looked at Anna with seriousness and said, "I beat you once and I can do it again."

Anna smiled softly and said, "That was wonderful, but you're still going to lose," and sent out a bug-like dinosaur known as Armaldo. Once again, the others were shocked. Where did Anna get Armaldo?

This would certainly be more difficult as Armaldo was part bug-type, and grass types were weak against bug moves. Despite Armaldo cringing due to the pain caused by the spikes on the floor, Jacob knew this would be a hard battle. But then he remembered something else. Due to her bug DNA, Armaldo didn't have a weakness to grass type attacks like Rampardos did, but she was still weak against water attacks. That meant the best bet was to replace Cacturne with Floatzel.

But upon summoning Floatzel, he didn't get the supportive result he'd wanted. Instead, Floatzel ran over to Sarah, who was wearing a skirt, and lifted it up, the woman panicking while Izy snickered, "Would you believe that Floatzel's a girl?"

"FLOATZEL, NOW'S NOT THE TIME!!!!" Jacob snapped as the weasel looked down in shame and waddled over to her master.

Meanwhile, Marcy was tampering with the mind control machine and managed to pull out the main wires. She smiled, feeling very proud of her handy work only to see that nothing had happened.

'No…' she thought, 'I can't believe it… it's not powered by electricity… but what's making it do this?' And so started the long search for the source of the machine's power.

While this was going on, Clarissa and Kevin had made it to the most important part of the base. They stood right outside Varen's office, but before they could enter, a familiar young woman stood before them.

"Perona, it's been a while," Kevin said as the woman glared shouting, "You'll never stop my master's plan! I won't let you pass!"

Clarissa turned to her partner with a serious look and nodded to him. She then summoned her Mantine as it pinned Perona up against the wall, Kevin running into Varen's office. Perona was now furious. How dare these two take advantage of her like that? She wasn't going to stand for that, so she sent out her Sceptile, which drove a pair of leaf blades into Mantine's back. The stingray cried in pain as blood came from her and fell to the floor, Clarissa returning Mantine to her ball.

"You shouldn't have been the one to challenge me," Perona said with an evil grin, "All of your Pokemon are water types while I happen to have a Sceptile who's leagues ahead of them."

"Even so," Clarissa replied, "We're not aiming for you, therefore I couldn't care less if I lost, which will most definitely not happen."

With that, Clarissa whipped out a Pokeball sending out a large tortoise with water cannons coming from its shell. This was known as Blastoise.

Varen grinned wickedly upon seeing Kevin and said, "I can't believe you actually made it this far. I must say, you're as surprising as always."

"Yeah, cram the chit-chat," the man remarked, pulling out a Pokeball, "I won't allow you to fulfill your plan!"

Varen simply let out soft laughter before turning it into hysterics and retorted, "Do you honestly believe you can stop me!? I've already taken control of most of the legends! I just need the small weak ones and my plan will be complete!"

Kevin grinned until Varen added to this: "I know all about your plan. You intend to destroy my mind control device while I'm distracted."

Kevin's eyes went wide as Team Advent's leader held his hands behind his back and continued, "I'm afraid this plan of yours is pointless as the mind control machine works with a power source that cannot be destroyed. I'm afraid my machine can't be dismantled, no matter how hard you try."

Fire burned in Kevin's eyes. It was official. He needed to take out Varen before anything else could happen, and as such he threw a Pokeball into the air releasing a rather odd Pokemon. This creature had white skin and narrow eyes along with a purple tail and violet eyes.

"So it's true," Varen said with a look of amazement, "You actually did manage to catch the legendary Mewtwo. I never should have doubted you."

The man proceeded to pull out a Pokeball of his own with a wicked grin saying, "It's too bad I have the next best thing," hurling and ball and sending out a small pink cat-like creature. Kevin grimaced in response to this as Varen had actually managed to capture Mew, the Pokemon Mewtwo was cloned from.

"Impressive," Kevin stated, "but let's not forget that Mewtwo is stronger."

"Yes, that is true," Kevin replied as he shouted a command, Mew changing into the form of Mewtwo. How could Kevin forget that Mew could use Transform, which allowed the user to become its opponent?

This was terrible. Mew was born a good Pokemon who only believed in peace. To see this beautiful creature being used for evil was just sickening.

Jacob was actually winning his battle with Anna as Floatzel made quick work of Armaldo and after that managed to defeat Graveler, but this battle was far from over. Anna sighed and called upon her next Pokemon, but Jacob knew he had the upper hand.

What surprised him a lot was what came out. It was a beautiful white fox with nine beautiful tails, and this Pokemon was ironically known as Ninetails.

"When did your Vulpix evolve!?" Izy spat as Sarah's eyes widened, the woman replying, "She caught a Vulpix?"

"Daddy gave me a fire stone to use on her," Anna said sweetly, "She's so much cuter than before."

Jacob grimaced and spat, "That doesn't help you much! If you've forgotten, I have a water type out right now, so that won't help you!"

However, Ninetails disproved his theory as she charged at Floatzel at a rather alarming rate hitting her hard in the face with Quick Attack. Before Floatzel could respond, the weasel took in a fierce blast of fire shaped like the kanji for "Fire". This was known as Fire Blast and was one of the most powerful fire attacks in existence.

Of course, this wasn't fully effective against a water type, but Floatzel still ended up taking in some good damage from it. Nevertheless, she shook off the pain as Jacob shouted, "Way to stay in there! Now use Aqua Jet!"

Floatzel rushed towards Ninetails, her body surrounded by water, and rammed her head hard into the fox's chest. Ninetails cringed momentarily, but ignored the pain and rammed her paw, which had surrounded itself with black energy, into Floatzel's face. This attack was known as Payback. Very much like the Revenge used earlier, this attack doubled its damage if used after the Pokemon using it was attacked.

Floatzel was unable to stand anymore as Jacob grunted, returning her to her ball, gritting his teeth. But this was far from over. He still had five more Pokemon, and to the best of his knowledge, Ninetails was the last of Anna's team.

"SKULL BASH!!!!" Clarissa shouted as Blastoise rammed his head into Sceptile's gut. The lizard passed out while Perona's eyes were wide open with a startled look. She would have never imagined that a water type could defeat a grass type, especially with Sceptile at a very high level of power.

Nevertheless, she ignored this setback and sent out her Alakazam. Perhaps he could cause some serious damage.

The battle between Mew and Mewtwo was more in Kevin's favor as he was proving that nothing could beat the original. Mewtwo unleashed an attack known as mist, fogging Mew's vision as the cat took in a large strike to the belly known as Psycho Cut. Mew cringed as Varen grimaced.

"Return to normal, Mew," he said as Mew changed back into his smaller form, "Maybe in his original form, he'll be faster."

"Please, you insult me now," Kevin stated, "I think he was better off in the form of Mewtwo. Oh well, your loss, not mine."

Jacob couldn't believe how powerful Ninetails was. Heracross and Cacturne losing wasn't too hard to believe, but even Manectric and Infernape were unable to stand up to it. The boy sighed, knowing this wasn't the best idea, but what choice did he have?

"Lucario, make me proud out there," he said as Lucario nodded, charging at Ninetails. The fox simply leapt to the side, avoiding the incoming attack from the infant and opened her mouth, Lucario taking in extreme pain from Ember.

Jacob couldn't believe this. How could Anna be winning? There was no way he would allow Team Advent to win, even if the agent he was fighting was his own friend.

"LUCARIO, DON'T GIVE UP!!!" he shouted as the infant shook off the pain, "I know this is hard. I don't like having to face Anna under these circumstances either, but we have to win at all cost. There are many lives riding on this win."

"No, you just think there are," Anna replied as Jacob snapped, "TEAM ADVENT'S BOSS HAS LIED TO YOU!!!! DO YOU HONESTLY BELIEVE THAT HE'S GOING TO USE GIRATINA FOR THE SAKE OF MANKIND!?"

When Anna grimaced in response to this, a rare sight indeed, Jacob realized that it was hopeless. The poor young girl truly believed that her father was a good, caring soul. He needed to win at all cost now.

Lucario grimaced, cupping his hands together and forming his Aura Sphere. But this was different than usual. This time he wasn't just going to release the sphere. Instead he was making it bigger.

"NINETAILS, STOP HIM!!!" Anna shouted as the fox opened her mouth to release another Fire Blast, but it was too late. Lucario released the ball of energy, vastly overpowering the strong might of Ninetails' flames and hit the fox dead-on. And that was that. Ninetails could not continue as she passed out, finally defeated.

This was good timing as Lucario was feeling weak after that battle. He took deep breaths as Anna smiled saying, "That was a good effort, but I'm afraid you're still going to lose," pulling out one last Pokeball, Jacob's eyes wide open.

When the girl sent out Tyranitar, Jacob knew that there was no way Lucario could win. But rather than waiting for orders, the infant rushed in and hit the dinosaur with Force Palm.

Tyranitar let out a terrifying roar before biting into Lucario's arm, blood dripping out and electricity flowing through him. Tyranitar had just used Thunder Fang. But it didn't end there. He proceeded to use Ice Fang followed by Fire Fang, but as Lucario lay on the ground open for the big finisher, the dinosaur just stood there silent.

"Tyranitar, why won't you finish him off?" Anna asked as the dinosaur turned to the girl and gazed into her eyes, Jacob, Izy and Sarah equally confused.

When Anna saw the stare in his eyes, she bit her lip letting down tears and said, "So it's true…" before dropping to her hands and knees and breaking out into heavy crying.

It took a while, but soon the group realized what had just happened. Tyranitar, unlike the others given by Varen, had kept his memory after being captured. That gaze was to tell Anna all about Varen's evil plan and now Anna knew the horrible truth: Her father was an evil, vile and despicable man.

"I'm sorry you had to find this out," Sarah said, placing a hand on her shoulder as Anna sniffed, "I should be apologizing. I believed him and then I injured your Pokemon!"

"It's alright," Jacob replied, smiling and looking into the girl's eyes, "Now you know the truth, so you can help us."

Anna wiped her tears and gave the boy a hug. Jacob was truly a great friend to forgive her after all of that. What was she thinking joining Varen's side? The man hadn't really given her a reason to trust him. She had only met him for the first time. She felt foolish buying into his words.

But even after betraying her friends and going out of her way to stop them, they still forgave her in the end. Anna didn't deserve to be forgiven, so for them to do so was no less than a sign of true friendship.


	28. Chapter 28

Pokemon Quest

Anna had finally calmed down and it was time to get back on track. Jacob and Izy had gotten their friend back, but far worse things were going on right now that they still didn't know of. Sarah explained to them the full details of Varen's plan to the best of her knowledge and all of it came as a shock.

"We have to stop him," Izy said as Sarah shook her head stating, "Right now, Kevin is most likely battling him, and if I know Kevin, there's no doubt he'll be the winner of this battle. We're better off taking out the agents and making sure they don't mess things up."

"But there's a problem with this," Jacob said with a sigh, "Aside from Izy's Pokemon and Anna's Tyranitar, we really don't stand much of a chance. All of my Pokemon are badly injured and so are yours."

Anna smiled as her eyes sparkled, the girl turning west and shouting, "There's a healing machine this way! If we hurry, maybe we can heal your Pokemon back to good health!"

As Sarah had predicted, Kevin was winning despite Varen's best efforts and Clarissa and Perona were both down to their last Pokemon. Things were looking up for the good guys.

"I didn't actually think you'd go so far as to defeat my precious Garchomp," Perona said with a vein as Clarissa smiled proudly, her last Pokemon smiling with her as well.

Clarissa's last Pokemon was a rather odd-looking creature. It had a large shell around it with spikes coming from the sides and its main body was like a purple ball with a devious grin. With the addition of a unicorn horn atop its head, this was a powerful mollusk known as Cloyster.

"So, what is your last Pokemon?" Clarissa asked, "I don't believe you've ever used it in battle before."

"To the best of your knowledge, I haven't," Perona replied, "but this little baby helped us capture Palkia and Dialga!"

That said, the woman hurled a Master Ball into the air as a large electric bird emerged. Clarissa's eyes went wide as she was truly amazed at what had just appeared before her. This was the legendary bird, Zapdos.

"You see this?" Perona asked, "I have one of the legendary Pokemon in my arsenal. How do you expect to beat me now?"

"I don't know," Clarissa replied, "but that doesn't mean I won't try."

While the group rushed towards the emergency Pokemon Healing room, they were blocked by a team of agents, each with their Pokeballs out. Izy grimaced and said, "You guys can go on ahead. I'll take these guys myself."

"Thank you," Jacob said, giving his friend a pat on the shoulder, "Do your best, Izy."

"Please, you're talking about me," Izy remarked, "I can handle this."

And so Jacob, Anna and Sarah rushed into the room, Lucario hunched over the boy's shoulder while Izy sent out her partners. There was a slight problem with this. There were three agents and each had two Pokemon, so it was going to be six against four. Nevertheless, Izy was certain her Pokemon's quality outweighed Team Advent's quantity.

The group marveled at the sight of this beautiful contraption that stood before them. This was far more high tech than the healing machines used in the Pokemon Centre. When Anna explained that it healed Pokemon at ten times the speed, Jacob and Sarah were very pleased. However, the machine only took one Pokemon at a time, so this would take a while.

Zapdos sent a thunderbolt towards Cloyster only for the oyster-like Pokemon to close his shell, using a defensive move known as Protect to prevent any damage from being dealt. After that, he unleashed a series of spikes from his shell, a few piercing Zapdos' wings.

Perona was becoming very annoyed by this. No matter what electric type attacks her Zapdos used, Cloyster would find some way to prevent taking in damage from it. Then it hit her… maybe she was using the wrong strategy.

"ZAPDOS, TRY USING DRILL PECK!!!" the woman snapped as the bird nodded and soared towards Cloyster who simply tucked himself back into his shell to avoid damage. Zapdos' beak rammed into the shell spinning like a drill, but the shell was made from a very hard material.

Despite this, Perona would not allow Zapdos to let up and this worried Clarissa. Was she going to lose?

Zapdos kept fighting harder and harder, and soon his entire beak had managed to drill right through the shell, making a big hole in it. Luckily, Cloyster's round body was far enough away from the shell's walls for the beak to do anymore than lightly graze his cheek. Unbeknownst to him, this did not make him safe as that hole started to spread, turning into a series of cracks that traveled alongside the shell.

Once the cracks traveled all the way around the shell to the other side, Cloyster and Clarissa's eyes went wide. The shell shattered in many large chunks. Zapdos took no chances and sent a quick little shock to Cloyster's pearl-shaped body. The Pokemon coughed up smoke and passed out, but at the same time, the chunks of his shell with spikes coming out of them flew into Zapdos' face, the electric bird bleeding and falling to the ground.

"I guess this is a tie then," Perona said, returning her legend with a smirk, "but even though it's a draw, I ended up performing a true miracle. I made that Cloyster of yours useless."

"He's not useless," Clarissa replied while embracing her partner, "He can still fight. He just doesn't have his training wheels anymore."

Izy couldn't believe this. Sure, she'd taken down four of her opponents, but afterwards her Pokemon felt weak. These agents were much more skilled than the usual grunts found at the base.

The last two Pokemon they had were Electabuzz and Houndoom. Houndoom was a vicious wolf with black and red fur along with horns. Electabuzz was a tough alien-looking creature with black stripes along with a lightning bolt on his chest. Perhaps this was the reason she was losing. Houndoom had weakened Scyther and Beedrill by a lot as they were both bug types and Electabuzz had done a lot to Noctowl and Gliscor.

'No, it can't end like this,' she thought as the Team Advent agents were about to unleash one last attack, 'I need to stall them a little bit longer until my friends are done in there.'

Suddenly, a red streak of light raced through the area striking Houndoom hard and knocking the wolf on his side. A blue blur also rushed into the area and did the same to Electabuzz. Izy stood there staring, a look of shock on her face as soon enough, two small white rodents stood tall. Both looked about the same with large ears with different fur colors and circles matching the ears in color on their cheeks. However, there was a slight difference between the two. One had red as his main color along with plus signs on his cheeks. The end of his tail was also shaped like a plus sign. The other was the exact opposite. Her color was blue and instead of plus signs, she had minus signs.

Izy realized right away that these two rodents were Plusle and Minun, two Pokemon who were known to battle better as a team. Plusle was the red one and Minun was the blue one. The way these two seemed to stick together, Izy assumed they were either siblings or best friends.

Houndoom and Electabuzz angrily rose to their feet as the two rodents started crying. This may have seemed like the two giving up, but they were actually using a defensive maneuver called Fake Tears, which lulled the opponent into a false sense of security.

Sure enough, Houndoom and Electabuzz fell victim to the duo's fake sadness, allowing themselves to fall victim to another hard quick attack each. Plusle and Minun gave each other a high five as the Team Advent agents returned their Pokemon and fled.

Izy sighed, returning her own Pokemon and said, "Thank you, Plusle and Minun. That was very helpful."

But as she turned to check up on her friends to see how they were doing, she heard small footsteps coming up from behind. She stopped and the footsteps also took a moment of silence. She slowly turned around to see Plusle and Minun there looking up at her with sad expressions.

"Oh no…" she groaned, "Listen, you two, I only train bird type Pokemon. It's against my morals to keep you."

The two looked at her, water forming in their eyes as something odd came over Izy. She'd never felt this way before. Was this guilt?

She sighed and pulled out two Pokeballs saying, "Well, it's not like I'll have to use you two for any contests."

The girl hurled her Pokeballs at the two consuming them. Why were they even in this building in the first place? Then she turned her gaze to the right and saw it: The reason for their presence here.

Her eyes went wide as she peered into an opened lab door. The professor inside was knocked out, most likely because Plusle and Minun had escaped. What Izy saw next was even more horrifying.

There was another Plusle and another Minun in there. They looked older so Izy assumed they must have been Plusle and Minun's parents. What made this a frightful sight was that both were cut open, their organs exposed. How cruel that Team Advent would use them for that kind of experimenting, especially since taking live Pokemon apart for medical research had been illegal for well over 200 years.

She sighed, remembering that this was Team Advent she was thinking of, and rushed to the healing room to reunite with her allies. Luckily, it was at this very moment when all the Pokemon had been healed.

"I see you won, Izy," Jacob said as Izy smiled replying, "I had a little help," and loaded up one of her Pokeballs into the machine. Now her Pokemon needed healing too.

Mew lay on the ground as Mewtwo breathed heavily, Kevin wiping sweat off his forehead saying, "I've gotta hand it to you, Varen, Mew did put up a better fight in his regular form."

"So you managed to defeat me," Varen retorted, "It doesn't matter. Soon, my plan will be complete and defeating me will not stop it."

Meanwhile, a group of search droids had been sent out to find the missing links for the plan. After a while, they found the spot that Mesprit, Uxie, Azelf, Phione and Manaphy were hiding in. The group got up as Shaymin joined them, ready for make herself useful and fight. So far, she had been a burden and had only caused the downfall of the other legends, but now she was going to help like she had many years ago.

Manaphy and Phione managed to take apart a couple of droids as the three magical beings combined their powers to destroy another one. A group surrounded Shaymin, though.

The hedgehog did all she could, hitting them with balls of green energy known as Energy Ball and sending Magical Leaves at all of them, but she wasn't putting up quite the fight the others were. The other five started to worry and turned to check up on her when more droids came up from behind and knocked them out cold.

Suddenly, something came over Shaymin. Her body changed from the form of a hedgehog to that of a small puppy. Instead of a bush on her back, it was now green fur and was only atop her head and on her legs, which had become much longer. She also had long, straight ears now and what looked like a red wing on her left shoulder. Shaymin couldn't believe this. She had transformed into her Sky Form.

She let out a loud roar unleashing an onslaught of sharp leaves known as Leaf Storm. This was more than enough to take the search droids apart, but she was unable to celebrate this for long. At this very moment, another army of droids appeared. One whipped out a lasso, wrapping it around Shaymin's neck and sending an electric current through it, the dog-like creature slowly weakening. The others placed mind control bracelets on the five unconscious legends and took control of their minds. It was over now.

The legends who had arrived to prevent this very fate united together in the sky and let out their battle cries. At that moment, small orbs came from them as they all fell to the ground, unconscious. The orbs soared through the sky until they reached a cave far from this location. A light shone from where they landed a loud, booming roar emitted from the cave.

For some odd reason, everyone in the building heard the loud roar as Varen grinned wickedly saying, "It's time!"


	29. Chapter 29

Pokemon Quest

The loud roar coming from the cave traveled throughout half of the world. Many who heard the loud roar believed it was just the wind, but those at Team Advent's headquarters knew exactly what this meant. The legends were stone dead on the ground as their souls had gone to another being.

A pair of red eyes glowed within the cave as a large creature started to emerge. This being had a great body with a black mark across the middle of its front. Within the black on its neck, which was the same length as its body, were red stripes. It also had ghostly bat wings with sharp red spikes coming from the tips. Its face was hidden by a golden mask and around its neck were three golden rings with a quarter missing from each. Its legs were very thick, its feet baring gold claws. This was the legendary beast, sealed away for years, the dragon of destruction. This monster was none other than Giratina.

The dragon's eyes glowed briefly before it took off from the ground, headed towards the one who had helped him return. Surely he wanted to repay the favor.

Kevin trembled as his eye twitched, Varen laughing maniacally. The gym leader knew that it was hopeless. Giratina had been awakened and soon everyone would suffer because of it.

"This is quite the predicament, isn't it?" Varen asked while Kevin gritted his teeth, glaring at the man, "Soon, this whole world will be mine. Well, it was fun, but it's time this silly battle ended."

Kevin tried his best not to show it, but he had tears. All of his efforts had been useless. Now the whole world was going to be under Varen's control and there was nothing anyone could do about it.

"What was that sound?" Marcy asked, still in search of the power source for the mind control machine while Derk entered and hung his head saying, "I think Varen just succeeded in his plan."

Jonathan and Veronica had helped each other take care of the guards when they also heard the roar. Jonathan still had his smile on but was just as worried as Veronica. Both knew what creature made a sound like that.

Aragon gritted his teeth and slammed his fist into the floor cursing, "DAMN THOSE TEAM ADVENT SCUM!!!!!"

Clarissa was in shock as Perona laughed saying, "Well, what do you know? My master succeeded in the end. It's too bad, really, you all tried so hard to stop us."

Jacob, Izy, Anna, Sarah and Lucario also heard the sound and their reactions were no different. They knew that their world could very well end in the next few minutes.

Varen opened up a window and leapt out of it, using a parachute to land perfectly on the ground. He then pulled out a master ball and waited with anticipation for Giratina to arrive. Kevin simply watched, knowing there was no point in stopping the man now. Varen had won.

Giratina landed in front of the man and looked down at him as Varen grinned shouting, "GIRATINA, I HAVE SUMMONED YOU FROM YOUR SLUMBER!!!!! IT'S ALL THANKS TO ME THAT YOU ARE ABLE TO CLAIM THE WORLD, SO WORK WITH ME AND WE CAN RULE TOGETHER!!!!!!"

The man held up his master ball and hurled it at the dragon, but much to his shock, a long shadowy object with a red spike attacked struck the ball, putting a large hold in it and causing it to fall to pieces. Varen couldn't believe this. Giratina had transformed his wings into long serpent-shaped claws and just destroyed the master ball.

"What are you doing, Giratina!?" Varen snapped, "You're supposed to obey me!!!"

Perona watched this from another window with a shocked expression as Giratina rose one of his claws and rammed it into Varen's stomach, a large hole appearing. The man coughed up a high amount of blood and fell to his back, gasping like a fish out of water.

Why? Why had Giratina turned on him? Was the dragon too unstable to follow orders? Had Giratina no intention of helping his savior?

Whatever it was, Varen was dead. And to make things more complicated, most of the Team Advent members along with some gym leaders had witnessed this thanks to the windows. Team Advent was ashamed now for having assisted Varen in all of this.

"You know," Jenna said from a distance with tears forming in her eyes, "this wouldn't have happened if we hadn't captured that Shaymin."

"Well, at least we did something truly evil," Donavan said, forcing a smile and patting the woman on the shoulder, Jenna letting down tears.

"Why did I go along with this?" Perona asked herself, "I should have known how flawed this plan was, but I truly believed Varen when he said it was perfect."

"At least now you realize that the path of evil is a bad one," Clarissa stated, Perona nodding her head, unable to make a witty remark.

Alex watched this sight while still on the roof, mourning the loss of his Fearow, but all of that was soon forgotten when he witnessed the end of his own leader. What made this all worse was that he assisted in all of this.

Miles saw this after leaving the building and gritted his teeth. He had been promised that he wouldn't be a victim of Giratina's destructive powers as long as he worked for Varen, but now that seemed impossible. With no one to control Giratina, everyone was doomed, even those who'd helped wake him from his sleep.

What happened next was truly a horrifying sight. Giratina unleashed a devastating roar before moving its claws close together, the claws creating a large ball of energy. After that, the ball was released and hit the Team Advent tower hard causing the building to collapse with many still inside of it.

When the remains fell to the ground, Miles, Jenna and Donavan were both wide-eyed. Had Giratina just killed the heroes along with every other member of Team Advent?

As luck would have it, the rubble flew high into the air as a large orb of light shone around the area, evidently protecting everyone from harm. This orb, or rather dome of energy belonged to Kevin's Mewtwo.

Mew immediately flew out of his ball and hugged Mewtwo as if to apologize for fighting alongside Varen. The psychic legend pet the cat-like Pokemon on the head, showing that all was forgiven.

But this did not change anything. Giratina had taken to the skies, aiming to head towards other parts of the world and destroy those areas. Seeing the legends all scattered across the ground with no life in them was satisfying.

Shaymin watched this sight and gritted her teeth, a look of fury on her face. She let out a battle cry and took off towards the large dragon, willing to do all she could to prevent the dragon's revenge from taking place.

Jacob stood there, looking up at Giratina and said, "That's the monster that my father was looking for… how is he here?"

Izy gasped, noticing the legends on the ground and spat, "WHY ARE THE LEGENDARY POKEMON JUST LYING THERE!!!!??"

Kevin sighed, placed his hands on the kids' shoulders and said, "I'll explain everything. The rest of you, do what you can to stop Giratina! We cannot allow his plan to succeed!!"

The gym leaders nodded, sending out all of their Pokemon. All of their strongest long-range attacks combined to his the dragon, who was none the wiser, hitting him hard in the back.

Giratina glared and realized this would pose a problem, slowly descending towards the ground while the gym leaders and their Pokemon ran towards the scene.

Clarissa was the last to go as Perona placed a hand on her shoulder and said, "I'm going to help you guys. I didn't realize things would get this out of hand."

Clarissa smiled and nodded, glad that Perona had realized the truth. And it wasn't just her, either. Every member of Team Advent realized that they had been fools and sent out their own Pokemon.

Jenna and Donavan stepped forward with a serious look as Jenna held Donavan's hand asking, "So, what say we give being the good guys a try?"

"Well, we're not great villains," Donavan replied, "Maybe we'll be more successful fighting for what's right for a change."

No one dared question why their Pokemon were in good health. The reason was because that orb of energy was not only to protect everyone from the wreckage caused by Giratina, but it was also to heal all the Pokemon who had sustained serious damage.

Kevin had finished explaining the whole situation as Izy's eyes went wide, Jacob and Lucario trembling. They never would have guessed that Team Advent was that crazy.

"I also have some bad news regarding your father, Jacob," Kevin stated, "He was a good friend of mine, so he had me receive a letter courtesy of his Staraptor."

"So, how is this bad news?" Jacob asked as Kevin sighed, "Your father discovered Giratina inside a cave located miles from here. That was to be that beast's resting place so he would never try to destroy earth again. I told you father he was a fool to even attempt catching that creature, but he really wanted Giratina as his own partner. Unfortunately, Giratina got to him first."

Jacob's eyes went wide. His father was dead? All this time, the boy figured that his father had simply traveled to another continent to catch more Pokemon.

Izy held the boy's shoulder, knowing she couldn't make him feel better with simple words. Her parents were dead too. She knew the feeling.

But Anna was distracted by something, truly unable to smile now. The others turned to her and sighed. Anna had just lost her last parent as well.

"Even though he was evil," Anna sniffed, "I was just happy to have met my real daddy…"

Horrible things had happened. Everyone had lost someone. But there was one force to blame for all of this.

"It killed my father," Jacob said as Izy nodded adding, "This monstrosity is the only reason Team Advent exists!"

"You're right," Kevin replied, nodding his head, "everything that's happened so far… all of it happened for one reason…"

"Giratina," Anna finished, wiping her tears, "We need to end Giratina's life. It's not enough to seal him up again. We need to erase him from existence!"

The others had to admit she had a point. If Giratina was sealed up again, anyone could try to revive him again. The only way to fix this was to kill the dragon and ensure that he would never spread chaos and destruction again.

Everyone else was gathered together, surrounding the dragon as Giratina's eyes glowed, the monster setting up for a devastating attack. The group knew this would more than likely take them out, but they felt good knowing that they had at least tried.

However, just before the attack could be unleashing, a series of leaves slammed into the side of Giratina's face. The dragon turned angrily towards Shaymin who had just arrived in the area. Before the dragon could respond, the gym leaders and Team Advent agents all took full advantage of this moment, unleashing an onslaught of their most powerful attacks upon the dragon.

With more than 100 Pokemon up against this destructive dragon, perhaps victory was possible. They may not have had the power of the legends, but there was a lot of them and that might have been enough.

However, after the onslaught which had created a cloud of smoke, the smoke cleared to reveal a horrifying sight. Not only was Giratina still standing, but it seemed as if he had taken in no damage at all.

Before anyone could respond, the dragon let out a loud roar unleashing a large blast from all sides of his body. What was this? It wasn't a recorded Pokemon attack but rather a strange power and whatever it was, it had knocked every Pokemon unconscious, the humans barely conscious to return them.

"I can't believe this," Sarah groaned as Aragon spat, "WE CAN'T STOP HIM!!!!"

"Don't give up hope yet," Kevin stated, entering the area, "All of you clear out. We will handle things from here!"

Aragon gritted his teeth and tugged on the man's collar shouting, "There is no way you can win, even with Mew and Mewtwo! Giratina is far too dangerous!"

"Pipe down," Kevin remarked as Aragon gritted his teeth, releasing his leader, "I can assure you, I have this taken care of."


	30. Chapter 30

Pokemon Quest

Kevin and the kids stood before the large destructive dragon. Their looks were serious and their will was strong. But how could they possibly defeat Giratina? As Aragon had said, Giratina was dangerous. This dragon had just defeated 100 Pokemon with one attack.

"Are you sure we can win?" Jacob asked as Kevin nodded saying, "I'm not sure how I know, but somehow, I can sense that Giratina can only use that destructive attack of his once. Now, battling him should be a tad fairer."

"I'm more than ready for this," Izy stated, pulling out her Pokeballs, "Team Advent brought this monster back. Now we should make sure it stays sealed away."

Jacob grimaced and said, "We should do more than that…"

The others gasped, staring at the boy with dumbfounded looks. Did Jacob just imply that they should destroy Giratina? It was a good idea, but even Kevin knew it would be far too difficult a task.

But after a few seconds, it sunk in. They saw Jacob's point. If they sealed up Giratina again, what would stop him from returning? Someone else could come along and unseal him again. The only way to make sure Giratina would never threaten the world again was to destroy him.

"I will warn you," Kevin said, "some of your Pokemon may die in this battle."

Anna turned to the man, her smile replaced with a serious expression as she said, "It's a risk we're willing to take."

All the gym leaders could do was watch. Their Pokemon had been defeated as well. This also made them feel useless, which filled them with doubt. But their leader looked confident and while that may not have been the most reassuring thing, it was good enough for them.

Kevin whistled, calling Mew and Mewtwo to his side while Izy unleashed all of her Pokemon. Anna and Jacob nodded, sending out their Pokemon as well, Lucario stepping forward to strike a heroic pose.

Kevin noticed the Lucario and said, "You'd better save Lucario as a last minute resort. Don't forget, he's the one who's supposed to take the legends' place in stopping the enemy."

"That's true," Jacob replied, "but he's too young to rival the power of the legends at this point. Sure, he has godly powers, but he has no control over them."

"Nonsense," Kevin replied, "Lucario's been able to control his powers this whole time. It just doesn't work well unless you believe he can do it."

Jacob's eyes went wide. That was the key to unlocking Lucario's special power? Why hadn't Darkrai told him this? It would have made things so much easier. Come to think of it, why hadn't believing worked in Lucario's first Pokemon battle, back when he was still Riolu? Perhaps it was because Jacob questioned the possibility of a Riolu learning Shadow Claw on its very own.

The battle seemed to be going well for the first portion. Mew and Mewtwo dealt some serious damage to the dragon with Mega Punch and Psychic. Plusle and Minun combined powers to form a large lightning bolt simply known as Thunder upon their opponent. Gliscor managed to graze Giratina with X-Scissor while Beedrill dealt a powerful Poison Jab. Noctowl hit the dragon hard with Zen Headbutt and Scyther followed it up with his own X-Scissor.

Giratina was now distracted, so the land-movers could strike him more easily. Nosepass heaved up remnants of the Team Advent base and mashed them together, slowly forming a large boulder over his head for rock throw. While the totem sculpted the projectile, Graveler sent a battalion of stones Giratina's way. This attack was known as Stone Edge. Ninetails sent out a power Fire Blast while Rampardos unleashed a much more powerful Headbutt known as Head Smash. Armaldo smashed his claw into the side of Giratina's head for Crush Claw and Tyranitar ended the assault with Hyper Beam.

Jacob, heeding Kevin's advice to keep Lucario in the back, shouted his commands as Heracross flew towards Giratina's head, planting his horn hard into the dragon's chin. Cacturne sent out a powerful Pin Missile while Floatzel unleashed a devastating sharp wind called Razor Wind. Manectric unleashed his own Thunder and Infernape finished things off by cloaking herself in fire and ramming hard into her opponent, unleashing Flare Blitz. This dealt a great deal of damage to her as well, but she would make all the sacrifices in the world to help Jacob.

Giratina roared furiously in response to the terrible onslaught. The kids and Kevin all knew that Giratina would not fall to these attacks, but they hadn't anticipated that the beast would be this mad.

Mew and Mewtwo were the first to fall when Giratina unleashed a powerful storm called Ominous Wind. Sure, this was an average attack, but something about Giratina using it made it more powerful.

Kevin's eyes went wide as he let out a weak, "It's over now…" while Giratina glared at the other Pokemon. Nosepass' large boulder was completed as the totem hurled it at the dragon, but just as it was about to hit, the dragon unleashed a series of magical rocks with a force known as Ancient Power. Not only did the smaller rocks take apart the boulder, but those that remained hit Nosepass. Despite being a rock type move, Nosepass couldn't seem to stand up to it and passed out.

While Giratina was distracted, Gliscor flew up behind him and raised his claw. Kevin felt a little more confident seeing as Gliscor was planning to use Guillotine, a move that would cause an instant KO to whoever it hit regardless of how powerful the target was.

However, before it hit, Giratina vanished. Kevin started to panic and shouted, "LOOK OUT!!! HE'S USING SHADOW FORCE!!!!"

But Gliscor was unprepared as the dragon appeared behind him, striking him hard in the back of the head. Let's just say the battle was in favor of Giratina from this point on. Slowly, one-bye-one, Jacob, Izy and Anna's Pokemon fell. Despite their best efforts, some even dealing a bit more damage, Giratina was reining supreme. Soon, the only two left were Plusle and Minun.

"Plusle, Minun, return!" Izy shouted holding out their Pokeballs, but the two leapt to the side, refusing to allow the beams from the Pokeballs to consume them.

"SERIOUSLY, JUST RETURN!!!" Izy cried, "You can't take Giratina by yourselves!"

The two shook their heads, but before they could do any more, a large flame came at them from behind. Plusle immediately pushed Minun out of the way, taking in the blast himself.

Minun ran over to her brother in panic, the rodent unable to move. She let down tears and allowed Izy to return them. See, Plusle and Minun were completely opposites, and opposites attracted one-another. The two needed each other to battle at their very hardest.

"Well," Kevin said turning to Jacob, "Now would be a better time than ever to use that Lucario of yours."

"Of course," Jacob said with a look of determination on his face, "Lucario, let's do this for not only the world, but for the legends who were sacrificed to revive this horrible beast!"

Lucario nodded with a look of fury in his eyes, an aura surrounding his body and a white glow coming from his pupils, the infant now floating above the ground. Was this the power of the gods?

"I've never seen him do that before," Izy said, Anna's eyes sparkling at the sight of this.

"You were right, Kevin," Jacob said with a grin, "All I needed to do was believe Lucario could use his powers without relying on luck."

"Of course I was right," Kevin replied, "Darkrai told me that before this whole thing started."

Jacob felt a bit envious of Kevin's friendship with Darkrai, but nevertheless, things were already starting to look up. Lucario's presence, the way this new form made him look… this alone gave everyone in the area confidence.

"There's no way Giratina can stand up to that!" Jenna shouted as Donavan said, "That kid truly is something."

"I am sorry, Jacob," Perona whispered to herself, "I underestimated your Lucario's strength."

The first thing Lucario did was cup his hands together before unleashing a larger than normal Aura Sphere. Now, one would think this was stupid. Giratina was not just a dragon but a Ghost Pokemon, so fighting type moves were useless against him.

However, this was a special Aura Sphere, one with the power of the gods aiding it. With that in mind, Giratina's ghost stats were useless as the dragon took in a large explosion. Before he could respond, Lucario opened his mouth, unleashing a power shockwave called Dragon Pulse. Unlike the other legendary dragons, Giratina was actually weak against other dragon attacks, so this was very effective against him.

It didn't end with that as Lucario dealt more damage with Dark Pulse. Giratina was also weak against dark type moves, so this was very effective. Finally, Lucario unleashed Hyper Beam and Giratina flew into large rock close by.

The others cheered as Izy hugged Jacob shouting, "YOU AND YOUR LUCARIO DID IT!!!!!"

But Anna had a neutral look as she said, "I don't think it's over yet," while joy turned to discomfort, Giratina moving towards Lucario as if he'd taken in no previous damage.

"I should have expected this," Jacob said as Lucario glared towards Giratina, "I should have known that wouldn't have been enough."

"You'd better be sure you two are prepared," Kevin stated, "Giratina looks really mad now."

Jacob nodded as the man took hold of Izy and Anna, dragging them away from the area and to a safer distance. If they were too close, Giratina could have killed them at any given time.

Lucario cupped his hands together to set up for another Aura Sphere only for Giratina to vanish. Jacob's eyes widened as he shouted, "LUCARIO, AIM BEHIND YOU!!!"

But much to Jacob's shock, Giratina appeared right beside Lucario, ramming one of his wing spikes into the infant's shoulder. Blood poured from Lucario as the dragon sent him flying into the ground with Shadow Claw, a cut forming on Lucario's cheek.

All hope seemed lost now. The positive feeling everyone had felt when Lucario unleashed his power was gone. What could they do?

"Lucario, you've taken far worse than this!" Jacob shouted, running over to his partner and holding the infant in his arms, "I know you're not finished yet."

Lucario slowly opened his eyes and nodded, flying back into the battle only to be sent into a rock courtesy of Giratina's Dragonbreath. While this happened, something started to overcome Anna as she found herself slowly walking towards the battle.

"Anna, what are you doing?" Izy asked as Sarah held the girl's shoulders saying, "You should stay here where it's safe. We can't do anything to help at this point."

These words didn't seem to reach Anna's ears as the girl lifted her sister's hands off of her, walking towards Giratina. Izy and Sarah were about to rush in and stop her when Kevin held them back, shaking his head. The others had no idea what was going on, but if Kevin saw a good outcome from this, they may as well allow it.

It seemed as if Anna was possessed. Her eyes had changed from green to violet and were wide open. Jacob saw her approaching and shouted, "ANNA, GET AWAY FROM HERE!!!!"

Giratina turned to the girl and raised one of his claws as the girl held out her arms doing one of the strangest things she could do at such a time. She started to sing:

"Oh, Giratina, destructive Giratina, why do you terrorize the land?"

There was silence all over the area as Anna continued, "Oh, Giratina, wonderful Giratina, what do you wish to gain from this?"

Jacob, Izy and Sarah simply blinked, the others too confused by all of this to react. Whatever reason Anna was singing to Giratina didn't seem to matter as Giratina's eyes started to glow, his claw no longer raised.

"Oh, dragon of destruction, why are you ending lives? This world is precious, full of life, yet you try to blow it up. May I ask what your reason is for this? May I ask what you wish to gain? Giratina, stop this madness. I know you do not live for evil."

Much to everyone's surprise, Giratina looked less angry than before. The dragon lowered his wings and lowered his head. What was going on?

"Oh, Giratina, destructive Giratina, please do not tare apart our world! Giratina, wondrous Giratina, you don't live for this! Why don't you look inside your soul and spare our world instead?"

Giratina looked completely powerless as he just stood there, no expression on his face. Anna lowered her arms and smiled at Jacob saying, "Now's your chance. Finish him off."

"I knew it," Kevin said with a laugh, "That girl's descended from the ancient people of way back. I'd heard they created a song to make Giratina weak. I just never believed it until now."

Izy and Sarah were both confused even after hearing the explanation, but while Jacob was also confused, this was no time for questions. He turned to Lucario and two nodded at one-another, Lucario unleashing a devastating Aura Sphere, surrounding Giratina in a large cloud of smoke.

But even though this had more force and Giratina could not defend due to his state, the dragon survived. But unlike before, there were now signs that he had taken in damage. His body was covered in bruises and burn marks and this gave everyone confidence.

However, Anna's power of Giratina had also subsided as the dragon's strength returned, Giratina ready to strike Lucario. But Lucario would not allow Giratina to win, not when he was so close to victory.

As the dragon sent his wing spikes towards Lucario, the infant unleashed Dragon Pulse, Giratina's spikes disintegrating from the godly strength shown by the shockwave. Then Lucario rammed his body hard into Giratina, soaring high into the sky, his hands and legs clinging to the dragon's chest.

"Oh no," Izy uttered, her hand over her mouth and her body trembling as Aragon said, "He's not going to use that move, is he?"

"WHAT MOVE ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT!!!??" Jacob spat as Anna blinked saying, "I think Lucario's going to use Explosion."

This was certainly alarming. This attack now only dealt a lot of damage to an opponent, but it knocked out whoever used it. With Lucario's godly powers, all of his attacks were 4 times more effective than if used normally, so one could only imagine what could happen as a result of this.

"LUCARIO, DON'T!!!!" Jacob shouted at the top of his lungs, but it was too late. Lucario let down tears as his body started to glow, his eyes glowing red and a large explosion erupting around him and covering Giratina. The explosion had a force almost equal to that of a nuclear bomb and had enough power to send Giratina flying hard into the ground, now knocked unconscious.

But the result was just as bad as Jacob and Izy had feared. Lucario's body was nowhere to be seen.

"Please tell me he didn't die," Jacob uttered, tears forming in his eyes. When he saw a blue tail descend towards the ground and land before him, he knew it was hopeless to pray. Lucario was in a better place now.

Anna noticed this and started to tear up herself, which was a very rare sight. She embraced Jacob sniffing, "I'm sorry that had to happen. I liked Lucario too."

Izy ran over to the area, tears in her eyes as she said, "Jacob, this must be very hard on you."

"Yes, this is indeed a great loss," Kevin said, biting his lip, "According to Darkrai, Lucario has always been able to defeat those that the legends could not, but he was usually mature enough to avoid using something foolish like Explosion. Now the legends can't send him to serve another trainer when you're too old to take care of him."

Jacob's eyes went wide when he noticed something missing. He looked back and forth asking, "If Giratina's dead, why haven't the legends gotten their souls back?"

Then he saw it. His jaw dropped and everyone was in a great deal of panic as the dragon slowly rose to his feet, fury in his expression.

Jacob let down tears, shaking with fury as he shouted, "Why!? We did everything we could!!! Lucario gave his life to win that battle, and yet that… that THING continues to breathe!!!!!"

Even Kevin had lost all hope. With Giratina still alive and Lucario dead, there was nothing that could stop the end of the world now. What could anyone do to help now?


	31. Chapter 31

Pokemon Quest

Note: Four new characters in this were submitted by jcogginsa, and sorry jcogginsa, but I'm gonna have to change the gender and name of two of them. Everyone knows that they can't all be males… well, they could, but the Pokemon writers have never allowed that. (And since I don't remember ever getting descriptions for these characters, I'm coming up with the appearances)

All seemed lost. It was doomsday for mankind. The trainers had done all they could to stop Giratina from destroying life as they knew it, but it had all been for nothing.

"It was nice knowing you guys," Jacob said with tears running down his face and a forced smile, turning to his friends, "You're some of the best people I've ever met."

"Likewise," Izy replied wiping her tears from her eyes, "If it hadn't been for you, I would have never gotten a chance to enter Team Advent's headquarters."

"And you filled a void in my heart," Anna stated with her warm smile, the kind everyone was used to by now, "Without you, I would have never gotten my chance to travel the land."

Giratina took off into the sky and opened up a dark portal behind him. Kevin recognized this as the opening to Giratina's original home, the Distortion World. This was how Giratina could ensure the planet's destruction without himself being destroyed in the process.

"We did our best," Kevin said with a sigh, "but we just couldn't stop him."

Suddenly, a small white and green wolf-like creature flew up towards the dragon with fury in her eyes. Shaymin had not been defeated by that earlier attack like the others had. But as Shaymin closed in on Giratina, she was immediately sent soaring hard into the ground by the dragon's whip-like wings. His fighting claws may have been gone, but he could still use his wings as weapons if he pleased.

Upon hitting the ground fast and hard, Shaymin could barely breathe as Jacob knelt down, petting the small creature and said, "I'm sorry, Shaymin. This must all be so hard for you."

Jacob didn't fully understand Shaymin's pain, and why should he? He didn't know the full story. He didn't know that Shaymin played a large role in Giratina's awakening. He didn't realize that Shaymin was the reason the legends had been put under Varen's control. But he did know how useless Shaymin felt as Jacob couldn't help feeling the same. What could he do? He was just a human with no weapons or anything.

Up in the sky, Giratina was forming a large ball of energy over his head. Kevin knew this as Giratina's orb of destruction. Once this reached full size, the world as everyone knew it would end.

Suddenly, everyone heard a gruff male voice shout, "Don't lose faith yet! We have arrived!"

The gym leaders all turned with a look of shock in their facial expressions. Before them were two men and two women, but who were they? One wore a white sleeveless shirt and a pair of blue half-jeans. His hair was striking red and his body very muscular. The other, a young woman, had short violet hair and a cold stare. She also wore a fancy purple and green sweater and had her arms folded. Another was an elderly man with long white hair and actually looked quite young for one at the age of 90. With a robe on, he held a walking stick with Pokeballs tied to it. Finally, the last was a middle-aged woman with red hair and a rather revealing top.

"I've heard of these guys!" Jacob exclaimed as his eyes sparkled, "I always dreamed I'd meet the Elite Four, but I never imagined I would!"

Izy stared wide-eyed at the sound of that. These people were the legendary Elite Four? She'd heard they were the best trainers in the continent, so to be in their presence was truly an honor.

Jacob squealed and pointed to the red-head saying, "That's Bermuda Suzuki!" then pointing at elderly man, he stated, "That man's Eagun Mustard!"

Pointing to the one with the cold stare, he explained, "That woman's Paula Daniels and the tough guy is Don Dordonii Van Peela Kres!"

Don fumed at the head shouting, "THAT'S KRUSZ, NOT KRES!!!!!! WHY DOESN'T ANYONE GET THAT RIGHT!!!!!!!!!??"

"Oh, shut up," Paula remarked as Eagun looked up at Giratina and said, "We have a job to do, Don. This is no time to talk about the pronunciation of Kris."

Don twitched, holding in his anger and frustration at the old man's words, but he knew that Eagun was right. The group was now ready for action, Bermuda smiling and saying, "With the damage that thing took in earlier, this should be a breeze."

And so the Elite Four sent out all of their Pokemon. Don's Pokemon consisted of a beast with four arms named Machamp, a large octopus known as Octillery, a turtle with a rock-shaped shell known as Shuckle, a golden moth-like creature with a halo over its head named Shedinja and a fighter known as Medicham.

Paula sent out her Pokemon as well. One was an Electivire, another a large bear named Ursaring. Another was a Magmortar while a large tortoise known as Torterra came out as well. The last on this list was a large sumo-like creature known as Hariyama.

Eagun's team consisted of a big orange mouse with elf-like ears known as Raichu. He also had a large dinosaur-like creature with a flower coming out of its back named Venusaur. Along with that were the familiar Charizard and Blastoise, the last of the starters from the Kanto region where the first 150 Pokemon were discovered. His last Pokemon was a Pidgeot.

Bermuda sent out her Pokemon and what a sight they were to behold. She had a Typhlosion, an Infernape, a Dragonite and a Gyarados. To top it all off, she also had a slim chicken-like Pokemon with a face similar to a falcon's named Blaziken.

The second Giratina saw them, he knew they would be a hindrance to his plan. As such, he slowly descended towards the ground preparing to face these new opponents.

The second he landed, the onslaught started. None of Machamp's regular moves could effect Giratina, so it was fortunate that he had been granted the ability to use Poison Jab. Octillery hit the dragon with a well-aimed Ice Beam to the legs, trapping the beast against the ground and dealing a bit of damage as well. Giratina was just about to respond with Shadow Ball when Shuckle sent toxic fumes from his shell, the attack becoming useless. This was known as Gastro Acid, a move that rendered any previously used move useless. Shedinja added to the damage with Shadow Ball and Medicham delivered a fierce Thunder Punch.

As Giratina finally shattered the ice, more attacks came at him. Electivire hit the dragon with Thunderbolt while Ursaring unleashed a powerful Faint Attack. Magmortar released a powerful Flame Thrower while Torterra used a large battalion of strong leaves called Leaf Storm. Hariyama planted his hand hard into Giratina's skull for an attack known as Knock Off. Had Giratina been holding an item, he would have gotten something from using this.

Raichu unleashed a powerful Thunder Attack while Venusaur charged up an attack called Solar Beam, which took a while to use. Charizard hit Giratina with a fierce Fire Blast while Blastoise delivered a fierce Hydro Pump. Finally, Pidgeot followed it all up with Gust Attack while Venusaur let loose his solar beam.

Typhlosion let loose a powerful Eruption Attack while Bermuda's Infernape used her own Flare Blitz. Dragonite added to the damage with Hyper Beam while Gyarados did the same. Finally, Blaziken dealt some serious damage with a powerful Flying Attack known as Brave Bird, which had the same side effect as Flare Blitz.

Everyone watched in silence as it seemed Giratina was done for good. There was no expression in his eyes, nothing but emptiness. Was it all over?

All hope was lost again as Giratina opened his eyes and with every move in his arsenal defeated each member of the Elite Four one-by-one. His opponents all fell to the ground and were returned to their balls, the top trainers feeling ashamed of themselves for losing like this.

"I KNEW THIS WAS GONNA HAPPEN!!!!" Don shouted with fury whilst throwing a tantrum even too childish for a 2-year-old.

Paula sighed, shook her head and said, "Why couldn't you defeat Giratina, you useless defects?"

Those words made Izy and Anna mad. Paula clearly had no relationship with her Pokemon.

"You did the best you could," Eagun said, petting his Pokeballs, "I'm proud of each and every one of you."

Bermuda sighed, putting away her Pokeballs and said, "We were so close."

Shaymin saw the inevitable result taking place and let down tears. It couldn't end like this, could it?

Giratina took to the skies once again, the large energy ball gathering dark power once again. It seemed no one could stop this now.

Jacob's eyes suddenly started to glow white. His friends looked at this with confusion, but Shaymin looked happy to see this. Jacob slowly lifted up his hands to see that they were releasing a blue aura and soon it surrounded his entire body.

"We can win this," Kevin said with a smile, "It would seem Lucario's soul has merged with his owner."

Everyone in the area stared with shock. How was such a thing even possible? As Jacob took off into the sky, Izy gulped and shouted, "KILL THAT MONSTER!!!!!!!!!"

Anna nodded with her warm smile and called out, "Jacob, it's all up to you now!"

And soon the entire area erupted with cheers. Jacob was truly the world's last hope now, and with Lucario's soul giving him strength, he couldn't allow himself to fail.

Giratina was just as surprised as everyone else, so surprised that he was unable to respond when Jacob rammed his palm hard into the side of the dragon's face. His nails then turned into steel as he delivered a fierce strike to Giratina's golden mask. The cut traveled right down the front as the hard object split into six segments, falling towards the ground and revealing Giratina's true face made up of nothing but dark energy.

Giratina opened his mouth and unleashed Dragonbreath, Jacob unable to avoid the attack. How could he? He was at point blank range.

But as the attack hit, it dealt no damage as Jacob had a bright blue sphere of energy around him. With it, he sent the attack right back at its owner. Since Dragonbreath was, as the name implied, a Dragon Attack, Giratina took in a lot of damage from it.

But the force not only damaged the dragon, it also sent him reeling into the portal to the Distortion world. Jacob gritted his teeth and shouted, "I THINK NOT!!!!!" flying in after him, the portal closing up.

"This isn't good," Aragon said with his eyes wide open as Izy turned to Kevin who explained the whole situation. Jacob had just entered Giratina's home, the Distortion World. Here, platforms floated in various different angles. The sky was always dark blue and gloomy, and if one looked down, they would swear there was a vortex waiting to suck all life into it. Mind you, it really was just a group of swirling clouds, but it still looked like an endless void in the eyes of newcomers. It was said that time did not flow in this world, that every waking moment was the same day, the same hour, the same minute, and even the same second.

Jacob hovered in front of the large dragon that lived in this world. He knew that this would not end until Giratina was gone for good, but what if Giratina was destroyed? Would the Distortion world implode, taking Jacob with it? Nevertheless, he knew that this was the worst place to fight Giratina, but he also knew that Giratina had to be destroyed.

The boy cupped his hands together, a large mass of energy appearing in his hands. With a look of anger and sadness in his eyes, he said, "You are a menace to this world, Giratina. You have caused nothing but trouble for as long as you've existed."

Giratina started to tremble as the boy shouted, "You have been a very bad Pokemon! Everything you have done up to this point is unforgivable! I know you're not fully to blame for the creation of Team Advent, but you are a leading contributor in all of it! And worst of all, it's because of your persistence that my best friend is dead!"

Giratina attempted to strike the boy with his wings, but the boy ignored this saying, "Scum like you needs to be destroyed…"

With that, he unleashed a large onslaught of energy balls towards the dragon, each hitting him hard in the chest. The balls soon were replaced by a large beam that blasted straight on through to the other side of Giratina, creating a massive hole where his heart was.

Giratina's eyes went wide before vanishing, the dragon's body glowing before it exploded. There was nothing left. Giratina's armor was destroyed and his entire body had gone with it. Not even a small trace had been left over.

However, Jacob's worst fear was coming true as the distortion world started to vibrate. Soon, that swirling deep space below started to swirl faster, forming an actual vortex and pulling in all that existed in this world. Jacob had no way to escape. The portal out of this world was gone and Lucario's spirit couldn't allow him to fly fast enough to keep from being pulled in.

Suddenly, the power left Jacob as he was mortal once again. This would have worried him had the power not formed into a familiar figure.

"Lucario…" he sniffed, tears in his eyes, "You're alive…"

Lucario shook his head as he revealed himself to be only a spirit, his body circling around Jacob and forming a blue aura around the boy. After a few more seconds, Jacob's body vanished and the boy fell into a deep sleep.

Jacob slowly opened his eyes after what felt like an hour and noticed the faces of Izy and Anna looming over him. He moaned, rubbing the back of his head and asked, "What happened?"

"I don't know how you did it," Kevin said with a smile, "but you defeated Giratina and escaped from his Distortion world."

Jacob immediately sprang to his feet at the sound of that and looked around shouting, "Lucario! Where is he!? He helped me escape!!!"

"Calm down, kid," Perona said placing a hand against his shoulder, "Lucario's at peace now."

Jacob then remembered something even more important and turned to see the legendary Pokemon standing before him. All bowed down to him in gratitude.

"Thank you, Jacob," Darkrai said, "If it hadn't been for you, our world would have been lost."

Jacob didn't feel as happy as he should have, though, and everyone knew why. Lucario, who had been with him from the start, was gone. His best friend had left him and was never coming back.

"Please tell me you can revive him," he said as Darkrai sighed, "I'm sorry, Jacob, but we can't revive Lucario. We're only able to restart his life cycle when he's old and in need of a new owner. He's never died in battle before."

At this very moment, Shaymin tugged on Jacob's pant leg with her teeth and looked at him with a smile. She let out her Pokemon sound as the legends stared in shock.

"What did she say?" Donavan asked as Jenna stated, "She must have agreed to take Lucario's place as Jacob's partner!"

"I wish she'd said that," Darkrai replied, Jacob, Izy and Anna all confused, "Shaymin has agreed to revive Lucario."

Jacob smiled and hugged Shaymin asking, "How is that a bad thing, Darkrai?"

"You don't understand," Cresselia replied, "To bring back Lucario, Shaymin must sacrifice her own life."

Jacob happiness turned to sadness as he said, "Shaymin, please, don't die for my sake. I'll get over Lucario's death, I promise."

But Shaymin shook her head and looked into the boy's eyes. Seeing how serious the legendary canine was about this silenced everyone. If Shaymin really wanted to do this, even her friends, the legends, could not object.

A light surrounded Shaymin as her body vanished and in its place was an egg. Jacob recognized this as a Riolu egg.

"I thought she was bringing Lucario back," he said holding up the egg as Darkrai nodded saying, "She did, but just like how we can only make him younger by restarting his life, she could only bring him back as an egg. That means he will be a Riolu, and since we did not create the egg, he will no longer have the ancient powers that we bestowed upon him."

Jacob seemed fine with that until the ghost-like Pokemon added, "And just like before, he won't remember anything from his past. He will more than likely not even remember you."

Jacob's eyes widened at the sound of that and the boy seemed unable to say anything in response to this. Izy placed a hand on his shoulder, a look of concern on her face while Anna's smile turned to one of worry.

The others in the area realized what this must have felt like. Miles especially felt the boy's pain. He had lost his best friend and had to replace him with another. Jacob's case was only slightly different in the sense that his friend actually returned.

After a while, the boy sighed, smiled and said, "Well, I owe Shaymin for her sacrifice. I don't care if I have to start anew with him. I'm just glad my buddy's back."

And so he embraced the egg, letting down tears and saying, "Don't die on me again, Lu… I mean Riolu…"

Then he remembered what he had set out to do in the first place. With Giratina gone, it was back to earning gym badges. The gym leaders realized this too and returned to their respective hometowns, going back to their normal lives. Jacob didn't immediately go back to traveling, of course. He first decided to stay in a Pokemon centre in a quaint little town called Greenpine until the egg was hatched.

He, Izy and Anna helped Riolu adapt to his environment. As expected, Riolu had forgotten his past life and had no idea who Jacob was, but despite this, the two still had a strong bond with one-another. Without his special powers from Darkrai, Riolu developed at a slower pace and he could no longer use powerful attacks that Riolu could not learn, but all of this was fine for Jacob. He was just happy to have his best friend back.

And once things had settled down, it was back to his journey. He was going to earn himself the last 3 gym badges and nothing was going to stop him. Izy and Anna accompanied him, of course, and just like before, Riolu refused to rest in a Pokeball. And thus the journey continued.

Author's note: This fic is far from over. I intend to let everything end before ending this fanfic for good. That means you can look forward to the Ultimate Pokemon Challenge and more contests.


	32. Chapter 32

Pokemon Quest

After the previous mess involving Giratina and Shaymin's sacrifice, Riolu was slowly developing into the powerhouse he was before. Of course, with his godly powers gone, he could no longer use attacks outside of his type, so he could only rely on his natural powers.

Like before, Riolu had a natural fear of humans, but was even less trustworthy this time around. It had taken a good five hours for him to become comfortable around Jacob and his team, and it took even longer for him to accept the fact that Anna and Izy were his friends and companions.

Eventually, when all had been sorted out, which took about five days, the group arrived at Exclessia, the town Veronica lived in, and of course, that's where a gym battle took place. It was a difficult struggle, Jacob being limited to the number of Pokemon he could use, but with the help of Infernape, Manectric and Floatzel, he pulled through in the end, receiving the Mummy Badge, which looked just like a mummy's head.

Izy had also won herself a contest ribbon that same day, and what she hadn't expected was that Plusle and Minun had helped her a lot more than her flyers normally did. It made the flyers envious, but she showed enough affection towards them for them to forgive the two rodents for stealing their thunder.

The old Riolu would have been jealous of having no time in the spotlight for himself, but as he was more timid now, watching the others battle caused him to worry about what would happen if he himself were to enter a gym battle.

Now, some of you might be wondering what happened to the others. For the legends, before leaving the location of Team Advent's demolished headquarters, the Pokemon had gathered around in the very spot where Shaymin had sacrificed herself, setting up a memorial shrine in her honor. After Darkrai made a long speech about why Shaymin was a great friend to the legendary Pokemon, all of them went back to their separate ways.

Darkrai returned to his temple while his servants, Mesprit, Uxie and Azelf flew off to three small islands, each inhabiting one. These islands were peaceful as no one else lived there.

Cresselia flew to a large mountain, of which she lived near the top. Located there was a rock shaped like a moon, and this was secretly a portal that Cresselia used to hide herself from forces that sought out to destroy or capture her.

Phione and Manaphy flew off to their home as well, a small lake well hidden from the world. Only other water type Pokemon were to know of its existence.

Arceus, however, had no specific destination, or so it seemed. He traveled the land, making sure to stay as well-hidden as possible. Where was the centaur headed? This was a mystery that man was never meant to know.

Heatran, of course, returned to the mountains. The other Pokemon living there were very happy to see his triumphant return. See, before he left, he had told the other Pokemon living near the mountain of his departure and his reason behind it, and it had saddened them to see him go. To see him back safely made them happier than ever before.

With Varen dead, Team Advent no longer existed. Every former member went on to live out his/her dreams. No longer were they going to work for evil because of fear. Some became nurses, others became Scientists. Some even went on to work in the fast food business.

Jenna and Donavan decided to start on their own adventures. Jenna tried out for the Ultimate Pokemon challenge while Donavan aimed for contests. Truth be told, the two of them performed much better than one would have expected. By the end of a mere week, Jenna already had three gym badges and four new Pokemon while Donavan had also caught four new partners and won himself a contest ribbon.

Jenna's new Pokemon were Diglett, Tentacool, Girafarig and Pachirisu. Let's just say Pachirisu and Purugly did not get along well. Meanwhile, Donavan's new Pokemon were Venonat, Mareep and Slugma. He'd also been allowed to keep the Gyarados he and Jenna captured prior to the battle between Team Advent and the gym leaders.

Miles decided to return to his home town. He and Derk made an agreement that Miles would be Derk's substitute for when the man was away on business. While there, he set up a small shrine in his back yard in honor of his old Camerupt, who hadn't been given a proper memorial.

Perona discovered when searching through record books on the elite four, that this specific group did not have a leader. Every other Elite four, which existed in every region, had one main leader who was more powerful than the Elite Four's trainers combined. As such, she jumped to the challenge. Of course, to become the Elite Four leader, she needed to defeat all four members, and defeat them she did.

Jacob's mother eventually received a letter telling of what her son had been doing. She became frightened out of her mind when she read the details of Jacob going up against the beast that had killed her husband, but sighed with relief when she saw the part telling of how Jacob also ended Giratina's life.

She smiled, put the letter away and let down a tear thinking, 'I'm proud of you, Jacob.'

Come to think of it, what happened to Dialga and Palkia? Well, after both had been captured, they agreed that they should be separate from one-another in case something similar happened again. Palkia was the one who agreed to leave and find another island. Dialga remained on the one with the ice crystals all around while Palkia eventually found one that was quite similar. Things were now looking up for everyone.

Okay, that may be a lie. Alex was still torn up over his loss of Fearow, but was slowly getting over it. The kid was still 8 years old. The fact that he had gotten over it this quickly was simply amazing. As for his life now, he'd agreed to return to his family who lived in Celestial City.

Asuna went off to a forest that she had grown up in. Located within this forest was a small shrine where she'd trained everyday. She had completely forgotten about it until now.

The young woman walked inside the shrine and knelt down before a golden statue and said, "Lord, please forgive me for my actions. I went against the ninja code of honor, using my ninja skills for evil. I hope you can forgive me."

At that moment, something odd happened. The statue started to move as it walked up to the ninja girl and smiled saying, "Worry not, young one. Ninja or not, you are human, and all humans make mistakes. The fact that you are repenting for it tells me that you have not lost your sense of honor yet."

Asuna refused to question the logic behind all of this and simply bowed to the golden man saying, "Thank you, lord. I promise I will never let you down again."

With all of that taken care of, it's time to get back to Jacob and his friends. The group was headed towards Kevin's home, a city known as Scalboro. Riolu looked at all the buildings and felt overwhelmed, but Jacob ensured the infant that cities were safe.

"Hey, look at this banner," Izy said with a smile, pointing to a large sign, "It says there's a contest here today."

Jacob smiled, letting down a sweat drop and said, "Sorry to burst your bubble, but this banner was put up yesterday," pointing to a set of small print with the date written on it.

Izy hung her head with disappointment as Anna, her warm smile on, pointed to another sign saying, "You might be interested in this, Izy."

Izy's eyes sparkled when she saw a sign that told of the city having a Pokeringer Contest. This was perfect for any bird trainer. This contest involved two bird Pokemon going head-to-head with one-another in a very competitive game involving a ring and two ring holders.

The main idea was that the bird Pokemon would fight for ownership of the ring, being allowed to take whatever extreme measures possible to win. The bird that put the ring around its designated holder, which was like a sideways pole, was the winner.

"Sorry I can't see your gym battle," Izy said as Jacob sighed, "It's alright. I've grown used to it by now."

As the two went their separate ways, Anna once again sent out Ninetails to decide which battle they should watch. As the Pokeringer contest seemed more boring to Ninetails than a contest, she chose to watch the gym battle instead.

Upon entering, Jacob started to feel nervous. He was well aware that Kevin had the legendary Mewtwo on his side and to defeat Mewtwo was not an easy task.

But upon entering, he noticed that Kevin was nowhere in sight, but instead, three Pokemon were lined up ready for a battle. The boy blinked and asked, "What's going on here?"

One of the Pokemon, a large buff rodent with a horn walked over carrying a note as Anna read it over saying, "Kevin's out on business, but he's given these three Pokemon instructions to face whoever challenges them and give the badge to whichever challenger beats them."

Jacob let down a sweat drop, Riolu confused about the whole thing. But the boy decided to accept these terms. All he wanted was the gym badge. How he got it was nothing to make a fuss about.

'It seems all of his Pokemon are ground types,' Jacob thought, looking over the competition, and this couldn't be closer to the truth. Aside from the Nidoking, the one that had handed him the paper, there was a tough blue one without a horn known as Nidoqueen. The last of the trio was a large yellow hippo with a black snout and back and holes coming out of it named Hippowdon.

Jacob realized his best bet for this would be a water type, so he sent in Floatzel right away. See, a grass type would also work wonders against Hippowdon, but the other two had poison attributes as well, so they didn't share Hippowdon's weakness to grass types.

Upon seeing Floatzel, the trio started whispering among one-another, Anna's eyes sparkling at the sight of not only the three Pokemon but to witness them strategizing in a way similar to that of a sports team. Jacob was more confused by this behavior as huddling was more common with humans.

However, after a quick conversation, Nidoking was the first to step forward as Floatzel put a fighting stance, feeling very confident in herself. Jacob was certain that he couldn't lose this battle, and the fact that the trainer wasn't even present made him feel more confident.

However, Anna had that neutral look on her face, the one that showed uncertainty. Perhaps Kevin's absence wasn't a hindrance, but they couldn't confirm that yet.


	33. Chapter 33

Pokemon Quest

The battle began with Floatzel charging towards Nidoking with Aqua Jet, her nose pointed towards the large rat's chest and a burst of water surrounding her body. But just as the attack was about to land, Nidoking lowered his horn, which was now glowing. Jacob recognized this as Mega Horn.

With that, the horn and the coat of water collided with one-another, Nidoking putting all of his force into keeping Floatzel from damaging him. Anna wasn't sure who would win this bout, but she was rather impressed by this clash of attacks.

One would probably think Floatzel had the advantage. After all, Megahorn was a bug type attack, to which Floatzel was average against, whereas Aqua Jet was a water type attack, which Nidoking was weak against. However, there was a large difference in power between the two that made things more interesting, Aqua Jet being average in terms of power and Megahorn being three times stronger.

After a few seconds, an explosion came from both sides as the buff rodent and weasel were sent flying into separate walls of the gym. Jacob winced, worried about Floatzel's health while Anna had a neutral look on.

Floatzel slowly rose to her feet, rubbing the back of her head as Jacob shouted, "WAY TO GO!!!!" but his tune changed when he saw her body struggling to stay up. Floatzel had taken in far more damage than first anticipated from that blast.

Jacob's eyes went wide with fear when he noticed that Nidoking had only taken in a minor scratch. Any signs of pain were nearly unnoticeable and the rodent was standing as if nothing had just happened.

The boy realized things were looking bad and returned Floatzel immediately. He let out a sigh and said, "You've done a good job so far, Floatzel, but it's time to rest."

Nidoqueen had a worried expression, but her worry left when Nidoking turned to her, folding his arms and grinning proudly. That previous attack from Floatzel wasn't enough to do him in.

'Okay, that didn't work too well,' Jacob thought with a serious look on his face, 'but who else should I use? Cacturne's weak against him, Electrike barely has anything that could harm him…'

His train of thought was interrupted by a small tug on his pant leg. He looked down and noticed Riolu looking up at him as if wanting a taste of the action. Jacob was shocked. Ever since Riolu had been reborn, he seemed to be afraid of powerful opponents. Was the new and weaker Riolu even ready for this?

Jacob grinned and said, "Alright, get in there and make me proud," the infant stepped into the battle field with a look of confidence.

Godly powers or not, Riolu was Jacob's best friend and nothing was going to change that. Jacob always had faith in Riolu since the beginning and no matter what the circumstances, that trust would never leave his side.

"Riolu, don't attack yet," Jacob stated, "Wait for Nidoking to make the first move."

And that Riolu did as Nidoking charged towards him, his horn downward and a gust of air surrounding him. This was bad. Nidoking was using Peck, and even though Nidoking couldn't fly, this still counted as a flying attack and Riolu was weak against flying attacks.

"RIOLU, DODGE IT AND USE FORCE PALM!!!!" Jacob snapped as the infant attempted to side-step the move but was too slow to react, taking in the blow and suffering major damage.

Anna still had her neutral look on as Jacob grimaced and thought, 'Before, Riolu would have easily dodged that. This is going to be difficult.'

Then he realized something that would be more effective and shouted an attack that Riolu had used in his previous life on a Nidorino. As Nidoking went in for another Peck attack, the infant dashed towards the rodent, shifting his body to the right and avoiding the incoming blow and making a U-turn, ramming his elbow hard into the rodent's face.

Nidoking grimaced, rubbing his face while Riolu took advantage of this, ramming his palm hard into the large rat's cheek. Despite the fact that Force Palm was a rather average move and Nidoking having an advantage over fighting type moves, this still seemed like enough to take the Pokemon down.

Jacob let down tears of joy, embracing his partner shouting, "There's the Riolu I know!" Anna's warm smile forming.

Next up was Nidoqueen with a furious look in her eyes. Apparently, she seemed to feel very compassionately towards Nidoking and let's just say seeing him defeated wasn't a satisfying feeling.

"Sit this one out, Riolu," Jacob said as the infant returned to his master's side, Jacob pulling out a Pokeball and saying, "I think she's rested long enough," sending Floatzel into the battle.

Apparently, Nidoking had done a lot more damage than expected. Floatzel was still a tad shaky from the last battle. Jacob stood there and blinked asking, "Are you okay?"

Floatzel turned to her master with a look of confidence and nodded before turned to her opponent. Luckily, Nidoqueen's temper was far worse than one could ever imagine as the beast charged towards Floatzel furiously. This was good because it was clearly clouding her judgment, leaving her wide open for Floatzel's Water Gun.

The blast of liquid rammed hard into the horned rodent's chest as she flew into a wall right next to where Nidoking had been sent earlier. Before she could respond, Floatzel rammed hard into her shoulder with Water Pulse, dealing some massive damage to it. To only make things more painful, the weasel proceeded to sink her fangs into Nidoqueen's arm, powering it with ice for an attack known as Ice Fang.

Jacob's eyes sparkled as he sniffed, "Even under a terrible injury, she's still kicking butt for my sake! I'm… so proud!"

But Nidoqueen was not going to let this slide. She was even angrier now and this alone gave her enough strength to resist the pain on her arm. To start things off, she used her free hand to scratch Floatzel across the cheek, the weasel releasing her fangs immediately afterwards.

"This isn't good…" Jacob stated as Nidoqueen proceeded to ram hard horn into Floatzel's chest, a small bit of blood trickling down. This wasn't Megahorn as Nidoqueen couldn't learn this attack. It was Poison Sting and it seemed to be working as Floatzel had a rather weak look to her now.

'What can I possibly do?' Jacob thought, 'If Floatzel attacks, she'll take in additional damage, but if she doesn't, Nidoqueen will beat her anyway.'

He realized what he had to do and whipped out Floatzel's Pokeball, but when the beam came towards her, the weasel stepped to the side and shook her head towards Jacob. The boy's eyes went wide as a tear ran down his face. Floatzel was willing to continue fighting just so he could win the gym badge. This loyalty was truly awe-inspiring.

Unfortunately, this touching moment didn't last long as Nidoqueen hit the weasel hard in the back, knocking Floatzel out for good. This was Nidoqueen's strongest attack, Superpower.

Jacob let down a tear and returned his Floatzel saying, "I'm very proud of you, buddy," as Riolu charged towards Nidoqueen without warning. Jacob was shocked. He hadn't even told Riolu to battle, but Riolu's compassion towards his allies seemed a lot stronger than it had been in his past life.

Before Nidoqueen could even respond, she took a hard Force Palm to the face. This wouldn't have been enough to take her down had she not taken in a lot of damage from Floatzel earlier, so she was out cold, Jacob happily embracing Riolu and Anna still with her warm smile.

This was a good sign. Sure, Floatzel was unable to fight, but Jacob still had Cacturne, and unlike the last two opponents, Hippowdon was actually weak against grass types. His plan to save Cacturne for Hippowdon had worked.

"Go get him, Cacturne!" Jacob shouted as the cactus man took form, standing tall and proud.

Hippowdon let out a loud roar and unleashed large amounts of sand from the holes in his back, hitting Cacturne hard in the face with it. This was known as Sand Attack. It didn't necessarily deal any damage, however, it did get sand in the opponent's eyes. This mean attacks would be harder to land.

Jacob cringed at the sight of this as Anna had a neutral look, Hippowdon slamming his foot into the ground and unleashing a shockwave. Cacturne didn't see the Earthquake attack being used and took in the blow at full force, flying into the air and landing hard on his back.

"Hang in there, Cacturne!" Jacob shouted as the cactus Pokemon slowly rose back to his feet. It would take a lot more than that to finish him for good.

"Let's start things off with Leech Seed!" Jacob spat as Cacturne nodded, unleashing an array of small seeds from his arms. Despite the loss of accuracy, the attack seemed to be well-aimed as the seeds scattered all over Hippowdon's body, covering him in vines. This meant that every time Hippowdon attacked, he would have to give up some of his health to Cacturne.

The cactus proceeded to drawing in energy towards his body. This attack was known as Absorb, and it did just as the name implied. It sucked health from the opponent.

However, due to Cacturne's lack of vision, he had failed to hit Hippowdon this time around as the hippo charged at the cactus, ramming hard into him with Tackle. The attack had done a good amount of damage to Cacturne, but Hippowdon had also lost a bit of health in the process thanks to Leech Seed, so the cactus ignored the pain just dealt to him.

"Good," Jacob said with a grin, "That last move was a minor set back, but it seems we're back on track now. Cacturne, hit him with Needle Arm!"

Hippowdon was far too close for this attack to hit, despite Cacturne's lack of accuracy, so the hard punch landed hard into Hippowdon's face dealing major damage due to the hippo's weakness to grass type moves. However, this was not a time to celebrate as Hippowdon ignored the pain, biting hard into Cacturne's arm, which the cactus stupidly left sticking out when he didn't even realize he'd hit his target.

"CACTURNE, NO!!!!" Jacob shouted with fear as fire started to seep out of Hippowdon's teeth. This was Fire Fang and Cacturne being a grass type was weak against this.

Jacob's eyes were wide open as Hippowdon proceeded to whip his head around, releasing his grip on Cacturne's arm and sending the cactus flying into the wall. Cacturne had been defeated. What could Jacob possibly do now?

"Well, I guess all I got left is you, Riolu," he said as the infant started to tremble now. Where was all that courage earlier? Then it hit Jacob. Perhaps the only reason Riolu was so confident before was because he knew he had protection from Jacob's other allies. Then logic hit Jacob like a rock.

"I can just use my other Pokemon," Jacob said with a sigh, "It's not like there's a rule against that."

"Actually, there is," Anna said clearing her throat and taking out Kevin's letter saying, "P. S. - Challengers may only use three Pokemon for this battle. Anyone who uses more than three will not receive the badge. I have made sure my Pokemon would enforce this rule without problem."

Jacob sighed and said, "Riolu, please, don't be afraid. If you get hurt too much, I'll just take you to the centre."

Riolu looked up at his master and nodded, slowly walking into the battle area. Hippowdon opened his mouth as Riolu braced himself only to get a loud yawn.

"What was that?" Jacob asked as Riolu stood there blinking, Hippowdon not even moving.

"That's it?" the boy asked, "Not even so much as an attack?"

Jacob sighed as he and Riolu both felt a tad disappointed, but Riolu remember he had to win as he leapt at Hippowdon, unleashing a powerful Force Palm to his forehead. However, after the attack hit, Hippowdon groaning in pain, Riolu started to feel drowsy as he slowly fell into a deep sleep.

All was silent until it hit Jacob like a blow to the head. "Of course!" he exclaimed, slamming his fist into his palm, "That yawn earlier was Hippowdon's Yawn attack. Yawn puts an opponent to sleep the second the opponent retaliates with a move of his own!"

This was certainly bad, but if Jacob returned Riolu, he would lose. He wouldn't dare lose after all that hard work leading up to this.

But things were certainly looking bad as Hippowdon lifted the infant up with his teeth, sending fire all throughout his body. As Riolu was part steel type, this was dealing a lot of damage. And just like before with Cacturne, Hippowdon hurled the infant hard into the wall, Riolu falling to the ground.

"RIOLU!!!!" Jacob shouted with tears forming. Forget the badge. Riolu was in extreme pain now.

However, Anna had a calm smile on as she said, "Don't worry. He's okay," Riolu slowly opening his eyes and rising to his feet, Hippowdon's eyes wide with shock and Jacob letting down tears of joy.

"Riolu, I don't think you should overexert yourself," Jacob sniffed, "Come on, let's go to the centre and try again later."

But Riolu did not like this idea in the slightest, and much to everyone's surprise, his body started to glow. His body changed shape, his ears and tail longer and spikes coming from his wrists. Jacob and Anna's eyes sparkled as Riolu had just evolved into Lucario.

Jacob let down tears of happiness shouting, "IT'S GOOD TO SEE YOU AGAIN, LUCARIO!!!" the infant nodding and cupping his hands together before unleashing a devastating Aura Sphere, knocking out Hippowdon who was too shocked to react.

At that exact moment, Lucario ran over to Jacob and embraced him tightly. This hug was much more compassionate than the ones earlier and soon the reason came to Jacob.

"Lucario," Jacob said biting his lip and letting down a waterslide of tears, rubbing the Pokemon's back, "You remember, don't you?"

Lucario nodded as Anna looked curiously saying, "It seems that big display of friendship coming from you two restored his memory."

Jacob laughed in response to this saying, "Well, it's good to have the old you back, buddy, but… just for the record… does this mean you have your godly powers back?"

An awkward silence followed before Jacob grinned saying, "I'm just kidding. I know that's asking too much of you."

Then Jacob and Anna's eyes went wide before the two shouted, "WE NEED TO CATCH THE END OF IZY'S POKERINGER CONTEST!!!" but before the two could leave, a small robot walked towards Jacob with a small object that resembled a piece of gold saying, "Congratulations on winning the Gold Badge!"

And so, Jacob gladly accepted his gym badge and the three friends were off to make sure they didn't miss the end of Izy's contest. What kind of friends would they be if they weren't there for her in the end?


	34. Chapter 34

Pokemon Quest

As Jacob, Anna and Lucario entered a huge stadium located in the middle of Scalboro, they noticed that they had arrived in the middle of the final battle, which was between Izy and a boy named Devin. Izy was using her Noctowl, which made sense as Noctowl was her only bird Pokemon, and her opponent was using Pidgeot.

It didn't seem to be going well as Pidgeot had the ring in its mouth, Noctowl reeling towards the ground. Jacob figured she must have just taken in an attack, and a powerful one at that. After all, Pokemon were allowed to use any means necessary to make sure they had ownership of the ring in these contests.

"COME ON, IZY!!!!!" Jacob shouted as Izy looked up, smiling when she noticed her friend in the crowd. There was no way she was going to lose the final round, especially not with her friends there to watch. She had lost quite a number of contests prior to this. The very least she could do was enjoy this victory.

She mouthed a quick command as Noctowl opened one of her eyes long enough to see the movements of her master's lips. She nodded and just before running into the ground, her wings started to glow as she performed a U-turn, now going upward and ramming her beak into her opponent's gut.

Pidgeot and Devin were both too shocked to react as Noctowl snatched the ring from Pidgeot's beak and soared towards a large pole. The entire stadium erupted with cheers when the ring was placed around a smaller pole attached to the main one and Izy was declared the winner.

With that over, the trio and Lucario were once again together and feeling quite hungry. Therefore they headed over to the Pokemon Center to not only heal Jacob's Pokemon but also enjoy a lunch from the center's food machine.

"That was an amazing victory back there," Jacob said as Izy sighed, "Well, I would have lost if you hadn't given me the support."

Anna smiled warmly and stated, "No, you would have won without us there."

They needed no reason for that claim. Whenever Anna said something like that, it was normally true. She had a strange knack for knowing these things.

"How'd your gym battle go?" Izy asked, "I see Riolu evolved into Lucario again."

"Yes, he evolved during our battle," Jacob said with a smile, "But something I don't gather is that after doing so, his memory returned."

That was odd news for Izy to hear. The legends said that there was a high chance Lucario would never remember his past. Since he had no idea of his past life when he was born, his memory should never have returned.

Nevertheless, this was good news. Because of this, Lucario was having a lot less trouble feeling comfortable around the others. Besides, they'd missed the old Lucario anyway.

"Does this mean his powers are back?" Izy asked as Jacob and Lucario sighed, shaking their heads. Well, things couldn't always work in their favor, could they?

With their bellies full and their Pokemon healed, the group was headed off towards the next town. Here was where Jacob would face Clarissa, the last of the gym leaders. He was willing to do all he could to win that eighth badge. He no longer had Team Advent to worry about, so nothing could stand in his way.

The four started traveling through the forest headed towards fate. Not only did the eighth gym battle await, there was also a contest being held there. Things were fine until the group noticed a patch of thorns blocking their path.

"I'll handle this," Izy said as she sent out Scyther and pulled out a small knife.

Jacob blinked and scratched his head saying, "I completely forgot you had that."

Anna examined it and smiled saying, "That's a nice hunting knife."

Izy and Scyther used their blades to cut open the thorny patch while Jacob sighed, looking back to when he and Izy first met. Izy assumed he was a predator and pinned him to the ground, holding the knife up to his neck. Back then, this frightened the boy, but now he couldn't help but laugh on the inside.

Once the patch had been cleared, it was back to traveling. The trip came to another halt when they ran into a large boulder blocking a cave that they had to pass through.

"This looked like a job for me!" Anna squealed as she summoned Nosepass to lift up the boulder and hurl it to the side.

Jacob remembered back when he'd first met Anna. She seemed so gentle and nice at first glance, but while she was certainly nice, gentle was far from the perfect description of her. Jacob remembered very well his gym battle against her. He had almost lost despite his best efforts. He'd often think back to that moment wondering if he'd truly earned that victory or not.

Nevertheless, Izy and Anna were truly great friends to him and he cherished his relationship with each deeply. There were times when the odds were against them but they would continue to stand strong to the end either way. Of course, among the two, Anna was the one Jacob was most worried about.

Anna was a very strong trainer. There was no doubt about that. But she was also still a kid. She'd witnessed the death of her own father who tricked her into carrying out his evil desires. Sure, Anna was happy now, but even she couldn't toss horrible events such as those aside. Those memories of her time spent with her father stuck in her mind, but Anna refused to allow a few instances such as those to make her life miserable.

But while the group continued to pass through the forest, a realization struck Jacob's mind like a rock. All of this would have never happened if he had never met Lucario. His journey, the badges he'd earned, his encounter with the legendary Pokemon and his victory over the most destructive Pokemon in existence: to all of this he owed Lucario.

Granted, Darkrai also played a big part in it all, but Lucario was the one who always stood by Jacob's side no matter what. Lucario was Jacob's best friend and it seemed nothing would tare them apart.

Soon enough, the group arrived in the last town they would need to go to before the Ultimate Pokemon Challenge, Grandin Town. Despite being but a small town, it was certainly full of life. There had to be at least 500 people living here, all friendly and kind to one-another. And in the middle of this town was the gym where Jacob would face Clarissa, the strongest of the eight gym leaders.

"You'll do a great job, I know it," Izy said as Jacob nodded with a smile and said, "I have to admit, I'm a little nervous."

"It's okay," Anna replied, "Don't forget that if you lose, you can always try again."

"Exactly," Izy said, placing her hands on Jacob's shoulders, "Even though I won't be there, just remember, I'm routing for you."

"Thanks," Jacob said before taking a deep breath, "You guys are the best friends anyone could ever ask for. And Izy, don't forget to win that contest."

Anna knew that Ninetails liked contests better and followed Izy to the contest arena saying, "Good luck, Jacob!"

The boy took one last deep breath and turned to Lucario saying, "Let's do our best, shall we?" the infant putting on a serious look and nodding. This was it. There was no turning back now.

Jacob slowly walked into the gym, noticing that the battle area was made of water. Infernape would have to sit this one out. Jacob had never seen Clarissa in battle, but just by the design, he figured that the woman must have been a water trainer. This meant that Cacturne, Electrike and Floatzel would be great choices for this one.

Clarissa rose up from the water in a bikini and noticed Jacob standing there. Jacob simply blinked as the woman blushed saying, "I didn't hear you come in. I was busy cleaning the pool walls."

Clarissa then pulled out a cloth as Jacob blinked again asking, "Don't people normally empty the pool before cleaning it?"

"Why would they do that?" Clarissa asked as Jacob shrugged, figuring that it wouldn't be worth it to explain the concept to her.

The woman climbed out the water, drying herself off and said, "Excuse me, I need to change into something more battle-appropriate."

Jacob's eyes went wide when Clarissa immediately removed her bikini with complete disregard for that fact that she was out in the open. Lucario still failed to understand what the big deal was. Sure, males and females had different body structures, but the infant saw this as nothing unusual.

As the woman finally dressed herself up in a T-shirt and pair of shorts, she blinked, seeing Jacob's face red and asked, "What's wrong?" an explosion of steam forming around the boy's head as he passed out.

Meanwhile, Izy had blown the audience away in the first round of the contest. Luckily for her, this contest had been given a special doubles rule for the first round, meaning that she could use the team of Plusle and Minun to stir up a beautiful display of electric sparks that twinkled over the arena.

Anna cheered and clapped while Ninetails gave a howl of support. Needless to say, Izy moved onto the next round.

And who else should be in the contest but Roxanne? Now that she had six Pokemon, she felt a lot more confident.

'Which of my little cuties should I choose today?' she thought, and ended up sending in a large pelican-like creature named Pelipper.

Unlike her Turtwig, which had evolved into Torterra during her travels, and Farfetch'd, Pelipper actually liked having Roxanne as an owner and gave his best effort. He was more like Sentret, who had only recently evolved into Furret.

Pelipper's partner for this one was a small yellow mouse known as Pichu, Pikachu's pre-evolutionary form. The crowd was very impressed by the team work shown by Pelipper and Pichu, the pelican using his Watergun attack like a fountain while Pichu danced atop it.

After the first round of the contest ended, Jacob finally awoke from his short coma to see Clarissa's face right up to his. Jacob started to panic as Clarissa sighed with relief saying, "Thank God you're okay."

Jacob breathed deeply, clearing out his head and saying, "Alright, I'm ready to battle now."

"Excellent," Clarissa said, pulling out her Pokeballs, "Say, if I'm not mistaken, you have a fire type, don't you?"

"Yeah…" Jacob said, blinking, "and…?"

"Well, it would be unfair to have it battle," Clarissa stated with a smile, "So how about this? I'll hold onto one of my Pokemon and make this a 5-on-5 battle instead of 6-on-6."

Jacob felt grateful for that. While it was true that gym leaders weren't allowed to show mercy, it was their job to make gym battles fair for the opponent. Clarissa's suggestion was certainly more than fair.

Clarissa looked through at her Pokeballs and asked herself out loud, "Who should I remove? I know! I'll take out Mantine!"

Clarissa summoned her first Pokemon almost immediately after making this decision as out of the ball emerged an ocean-blue lizard-like creature. It had large aqua-colored fins atop its head and a tail fin that was the size of the two head fins combined. With its beady yellow eyes and what looked like yellow spikes coming out of its cheeks, this Pokemon was known as Swampert.

Jacob needed to be smart with this one. Electrike would have been useless as while Swampert was a water type, it was also a ground type. However, due to its ground DNA, grass type attacks would be more effective. Jacob grinned and sent in Cacturne.

Clarissa smiled, clapping her hands together and said, "That was a very smart move, Jacob."

But this didn't mean the battle would be easy, and this was made clear when Swampert dove under the water. Jacob gulped, realizing his Pokemon would have to do the same.

"Cacturne, dive in after it!" he shouted as Cacturne started to panic. What was wrong? Didn't plants like water?

Then the horrid truth hit Jacob like lightning. Was Cacturne afraid of water?


	35. Chapter 35

Pokemon Quest

This wasn't good at all. Swampert was deep down under the water and Cacturne refused to follow. But how could a plant, something that lives off of water, be afraid of it? Granted, Cacturne was a cactus, which meant he didn't get his water from the outside world and simply had it inside of him at all times.

Cacturne had a look of shame on his face as Jacob sighed, "Cacturne, it's okay. You don't need to go under the water. We can get Swampert once he resurfaces."

"A good idea, indeed," Clarissa replied, Jacob now worried, "but I'm afraid Swampert doesn't need to resurface."

The boy would have questioned this further had a large blast of water not emerged from deep down under the pool and hit the cactus hard in the face. Cacturne groaned in pain as Jacob whipped out his Pokeball and shouted, "CACTURNE, RETURN!!!!" the cactus returning to his Pokeball.

Lucario had a look of worry as Jacob smiled and said, "Don't worry about it, Lucario. I still have you and the others, right?"

While it was certainly true that Cacturne had the advantage over water type Pokemon, he wasn't Jacob's only good fighter. Jacob still had four other allies who could help him in this, including his ever-faithful Lucario. Then again, he also knew that Manectric needed to be saved for Clarissa's other Pokemon.

Also, Swampert seemed to have a big advantage under the water. Then Jacob remembered something: Swampert was quite possibly the only Pokemon in Clarissa's arsenal that didn't have an advantage over water attacks.

"GO FLOATZEL!!!!" Jacob shouted hurling his Pokeball as the weasel took form and dove under the water.

Swampert was preparing to blast Jacob's next ally with another water gun but didn't actually expect the boy to pick a water type Pokemon. As such, the amphibian was unprepared for a direct Aqua Jet to the gut.

Swampert flew back a ways, groaning in pain while Floatzel spun her body around, unleashing a Sonic Boom from her tails. Swampert growled angrily upon taking in the fierce blow and charged at Floatzel, determined to turn the battle in his favor.

Jacob felt nervous while he simply watched the water from above the surface. The two Pokemon were too deep under water, so neither trainer could see how the battle was going.

Clarissa didn't seem nearly as nervous as she simply smiled and said, "That was smart thinking, Jacob. You realized that due to Swampert's ground attributes, he doesn't have an advantage over water attacks."

However, as smart as this move was, it didn't mean Jacob was going to win easily. This was shown when Swampert rammed his fist hard into Floatzel's face, the weasel coughing up a small amount of blood from the force. This attack was known as Hammer Arm and in a pool battle field this was most likely the strongest attack Swampert could use right now.

However, Floatzel would not allow herself to be hit by another one, so she ignored the pain and when Swampert rose his fist, this time aiming for her skull, the weasel tilted her head toward the fist. She then proceeded to open up her mouth, catching the fist between her fangs, Swampert crying in pain.

As if that wasn't enough, ice started to leak from the fangs as soon, Swampert's entire fist was covered in the solidified liquid. But due to the water around them, Ice Fang had even more of an impact. Soon enough, Swampert's entire body was covered solid ice: all except his face.

The amphibian did all he could to move, but it was hopeless. He was a sitting duck while Floatzel delivered a powerful Aqua Jet between Swampert's eyes.

Jacob and Clarissa watched the water until they noticed bubbles starting to rise up. The two realized immediately that this meant the battle was over. All was silent now. Who was the winner? Only time would tell.

Soon, the bubbles subsided as Swampert's head rose up out of the water, its eyes and mouth open. Jacob let out a sigh as he figured Floatzel must have lost. But before hope had left him, Clarissa smiled and said, "Well, you defeated Swampert. Good job."

Jacob stared at her, dumbfounded. What did she mean? Wasn't Swampert the winner?

But then he saw it. Swampert's facial expression may have been one of good health, but it seemed stuck that way. Swampert wasn't even moving and his face didn't change in the slightest. His face may have looked passive, but he was out cold and his face was stuck like that.

Floatzel rose up out of the water, smiling at her master as Jacob let down tears of joy. Then, without warning, Floatzel leapt into her master's arms and the two shared a long embrace.

"Great job, Floatzel," he said as he returned the weasel to her Pokeball.

Lucario breathed a sigh of relief, Clarissa returning her Swampert and hurling another Pokeball onto one of the platforms. This time the woman had chosen Blastoise.

What would Jacob use this time around? Blastoise was a tortoise, meaning she could protect herself against most of his Pokemon. However, unlike Swampert, he had no ground attributes. The boy grinned, figuring now would be a good time to go with Manectric.

The wolf stood tall and proud as Blastoise leapt into the water. Unlike Cacturne, Manectric was not afraid of water. The only problem was that it didn't really help much in the long run. Manectric, being a canine, could only swim on the water's surface, meaning he couldn't dive down after Blastoise.

"Manectric, be careful," Jacob said, "Don't make any rash moves. Blastoise could get you from any angle."

Manectric nodded and darted his eyes back and forth. But before he or Jacob could even realize what was going on, Blastoise rose up behind Manectric, striking him in the back with her water cannons. Manectric flew hard into the water, quickly climbing atop another platform before Blastoise could do any more to him.

Jacob and Lucario were both worried as the boy gulped. This was clearly going to take some thought as Blastoise's strategy was different from that of Swampert. What truly impressed the boy was that Clarissa didn't even give any commands during all the whole thing. She seemed perfectly confident letting the Pokemon make their own decisions.

Unlike last time, Jacob noticed Blastoise rising up beside Manectric and shouted, "TURN AROUND AND GIVE HIM A DOSE OF THUNDER!!!"

But before the wolf could turn to his pray, Blastoise hit him hard with another blast from his water cannons. This time, Manectric was father from the platforms, so before he was able to make it to the nearest one, Blastoise swam below him and rammed his skull hard into the wolf's chest, sending him flying high into the air.

Manectric landed hard against a nearby platform, gritting his teeth in pain. Just how was this supposed to work? Jacob needed a strategy that would work.

To some, it might have made more sense for Manectric to simply hit the water with Thunder. However, Jacob knew that it would only effect the water's surface as this water seemed quite thick.

Then it hit Jacob… Thunder would only spread throughout the water's surface. That was it. That was the logic he needed to win.

As Blastoise started to rise up from under the water, Jacob grinned shouting, "USE THUNDER ON THE WATER!!!!!"

Manectric failed to see the logic behind this plan, but he couldn't disobey his master. He had faith in the boy's decision. As such, he send a powerful bolt of lightning hard into the liquid's surface and soon enough, the electricity spread. Across every inch the lightning spread atop the water's surface. And who should be caught in the chain reaction than Blastoise whose body was soon covered in electricity.

The tortoise's eyes went wide as he let out a roar of pain. Soon enough, sparks were flying from his body as his eyes rolled to the back of his head. There was no questioning it. The tortoise had been defeated and was out like a light.

Clarissa returned her Blastoise and smiled saying, "That was truly a brilliant last-minute resort, Jacob. You're the first to ever come up with that."

Jacob blushed, rubbing the back of his head. Was he really the only one? It made him wonder how anyone else could have possibly defeated that Blastoise over the past.

Clarissa's next Pokemon was a majestic creature of sorts, a penguin to be exact. Her beak was shaped like a crown, the prongs forming what looked like an armored mask over the penguin's face. Her wings were shaped like blades, a bright blue rim around each one.

Jacob's eyes sparkled as he said, "I can't believe I'm seeing an Empoleon! I've only seen pictures of such beings! They're even cooler in person!"

Clarissa chuckled as Empoleon blushed, posing as to look more impressive. The gym leader sighed and said, "My Empoleon loves being the center of attention. You've given her a reason to like you."

Jacob laughed nervously at the sound of that as Clarissa added, "Don't think she's going to go easy on you just because of a little flattery. Empoleon may like you, but she's also following my orders."

Jacob nodded in understanding. This wasn't exactly a foreign concept to him. And he had to be careful as Empoleon was a dangerous opponent. There weren't very many types that had an advantage over her, let alone standing so much as a fighting chance. Luckily, Empoleon was weak against electric attacks and Manectric was still out and ready for battle.

Jacob knew he couldn't just use a direct attack with platforms replacing the regular battlefield. He knew there was only one attack that could hit Empoleon.

"MANECTRIC, USE THUNDER!!!" he shouted as the wolf unleashed the devastating attack, but Empoleon leapt towards another platform, the thunder missing its target.

Jacob gritted his teeth and thought, 'Of course, Empoleon isn't exactly a slow Pokemon. Maybe I should slow it down first.'

"Manectric, hit Empoleon with Thunder Wave!" the boy shouted as the wolf unleashed a wave of electricity towards the penguin. But Empoleon dodged to the side with ease, Clarissa grinning.

"That was a good strategy," she said, "You were going to paralyze him with Thunder Wave so he would be unable to dodge the Thunder Attack."

Manectric tried again and again to hit his target, but as he missed with each shot, Empoleon eventually found an opening and held up her fin, which glowed before traveling down Manectric's face. The face cut open as blood started to pour out. This was far more powerful than any other Metal Claw Jacob had seen before.

But luckily, Manectric was still standing, seeming to ignore the pain across his face as he unleashed another Thunder Wave. Empoleon was now at point-blank range, therefore she was unable to dodge it this time.

Clarissa's eyes went wide as Manectric took this opportunity to leapt onto another platform, unleashing a Thunder Attack that covered the penguin's entire body. Burn marks covered Empoleon as the penguin coughed up smoke, however, unlike Blastoise, the penguin was still standing.

Before Manectric could even respond, he took a hard Hydro Pump to the face while his body flew towards Jacob, the boy catching him midway and returning the wolf to his Pokeball. "You did a great job, Manectric," he said.

But now he was worried. Manectric was the best Pokemon the boy had against Clarissa's Pokemon. What was the boy to do now that his best choice was out of the picture?

He then remembered his past gym battles. He had faced this situation before. When he fought against Jonathan, he lost Chimchar in the first bout and in the end, he won with the help of his other Pokemon. When battling Marcy, his Cacnea had lost to Pikachu. But when push came to shove, he won the battle with Lucario's help. When facing Kevin's Pokemon, both Cacnea and Floatzel had lost while Lucario was the one who defeated all three of Kevin's partners. In fact, Lucario had contributed greatly to the defeat of almost every gym leader up to this point. Even against Miles' fire type Pokemon, he still stood strong and won.

The boy grinned and turned to Lucario asking, "Hey, would you like to teach Empoleon a lesson?"

Lucario nodded, a confident smile on his face. There was no way he was going to lose.

Besides, this wasn't such a bad choice in the end. Due to her steel attributes, Empoleon was weak against fighting type moves. The only challenge would be hitting her.


	36. Chapter 36

Pokemon Quest

It was now a standoff between Lucario and Empoleon. The penguin stood her ground awaiting Lucario's first attack.

"Lucario, try not to get too close," Jacob said, "That Empoleon is more powerful than most."

Lucario nodded, cupping his hands together and preparing an Aura Sphere. However, much like the Thunder Waves from Manectric, Empoleon simply leapt to another platform, avoiding it easily. Jacob needed some way to catch the penguin Pokemon off guard.

Lucario continued to fire aura sphere after aura sphere, Empoleon dodging each shot, while Jacob thought long and hard about this. Just how was he supposed to hit Empoleon? Then it hit him.

'I must predict where Empoleon is going to land,' Jacob thought, 'She's defenseless in the air.'

"LUCARIO, AFTER USING AURA SPHERE, LAUNCH AN ATTACK TOWARDS ANOTHER PLATFORM!!!!" he shouted as Lucario's eyes went wide. Even the infant understood what Jacob was planning.

With that, Lucario unleashed another Aura Sphere, which Empoleon dodged with ease, but while Empoleon was dodging, Lucario leapt towards the very platform the penguin had gone for with his paw out. Empoleon started to panic, but seconds before she could land on the platform Lucario planted his palm into her ribcage.

The penguin groaned as she landed, standing there with little emotion on her face. All was silent throughout the area. Had Lucario won?

This was clear when the penguin toppled over, falling on her side and Clarissa clapping for Jacob and saying, "That was very well done! That was quite a strategy! How did you know where Empoleon was going to land?"

"I didn't," Jacob replied, rubbing the back of his head, "I just sorta… guessed…"

Clarissa was most impressed. Jacob was proving to be far more of a challenge than she'd first predicted.

The boy called Lucario back over to his side and said, "You'd better rest up. She may have something better in store."

Clarissa's next Pokemon was a jellyfish-like creature with two large gems on his head. With its menacing eyes, this was Tentacruel.

Jacob winced at the sight of this. Tentacruel was another of those Pokemon he had a deep fear of. Unlike Nosepass, he had a reason behind this. The boy's eyes twitched as he remembered it all like it was yesterday.

Jacob was only 6 when he was first learning how to swim. After proving himself to be quite a fast learner, his mother decided to allow him a chance to swim without her supervision. Unfortunately, Jacob stumbled upon a group of small jellyfish-like creatures called Tentacool.

One thing led to another and Jacob had to be rushed to the hospital. Since then, he had a great fear of Tentacool and anything associated with them. However, now was not a good time to be afraid.

He needed to think. What was the best Pokemon to use against a Tentacruel? This would have been easy had his Manectric not been defeated earlier. The biggest problem was that Tentacruel was strong against a lot of Pokemon. Fighting and Steel type attacks wouldn't be much help, so Lucario was out of the question. Bug type attacks were also weak against the jellyfish so Heracross wasn't a good choice either. Floatzel was definitely out of the question for Tentacruel was, after all, a water type.

That left Cacturne, but was the cactus really a good choice? Jacob had just discovered that Cacturne had a fear of water.

'I guess my best bet would be Floatzel,' Jacob thought, 'At least she has resistance to some of Tentacruel's attacks.'

And so Jacob sent out his weasel companion, both Floatzel and Tentacruel diving under the pool's water. Jacob had done so well up to this point. There was no way he was going to throw that to the side now.

Meanwhile, in the contest arena, the finals were now underway with Izy and Roxanne going up against one-another. Roxanne looked in the crowd and sighed, realizing that Jacob wasn't there to cheer her on this time around. Izy was also quite surprised. Jacob was usually finished his gym battles by now. Perhaps Clarissa was just a very difficult opponent. Unbeknownst to her, half of the reason Jacob wasn't there for the finals was because of a certain event that had caused him to pass out earlier.

Anna and Ninetails cheered Izy on as the battle started. Izy sent out her Scyther for this battle while Roxanne went with the one Pokemon she had been saving for this contest: a large crab-like Pokemon called Kingler.

"LET'S DO THIS, KINGLER!!!" she screamed excitedly as the crab sighed, rolling his eyes. Very much like Torterra and Farfetch'd, he didn't much care for his owner.

Scyther started off flying at Kingler and using a well-aimed X-Strike. Upon hitting the crab, the X leftover from the attack split up into separate small X's, impressing the audience even more.

The crab growled, now feeling motivated to battle as he unleashed a stream of bubbles known as Bubblebeam. Shifting his body around, he was able to make the Bubblebeam look like a whirlpool made of bubbles, which was earning him quite a high number of points. But due to the fact that Scyther seemed more than capable of dodging said attack, the flying bug was still in the lead.

Jacob was worried now. Tentacruel had only taken in a bit of damage from Floatzel and now the weasel was out cold. Jacob grimaced and thought, 'I can't use Cacturne and I need to save Lucario.'

With that in mind, he hurled another Pokeball into the battle area as Heracross emerged, flexing his muscles. Clarissa had to admit, that was an interesting choice.

"Heracross, take to the skies!" Jacob shouted as the beetle nodded, opening up his shell and revealing his wings. Clarissa knew what Jacob's plan was. He did this so Tentacruel would have no choice but to stay above the surface, otherwise he wouldn't land a blow on the Hercules beetle. Also, Heracross had a weakness to poison attacks and Tentacruel was also a poison type.

Tentacruel stood his ground as Jacob gave his partner a command, Heracross nodding and flying downward for an aerial ace. This was the best he could do, after all.

However, Clarissa wasn't at all worried, and it was shown why when Tentacruel his chin up, firing a large blast of water known as Hydro Pump.

"HERACROSS, SPIN TO THE SIDE!!!" Jacob spat as Heracross twirled his body around, shifting to the side and dodging the incoming attack. Clarissa had to admit she was impressed as the beetle rammed his head hard the jellyfish's face.

Tentacruel growled in pain as Heracross took to the sky again. The jellyfish proceeded to attempt a series of long-ranged attacks such as Bubblebeam, but Heracross simply dodged each one, eventually catching Tentacruel off-guard and ramming his horn into the Pokemon's skull.

"Tentacruel," Clarissa said as the jellyfish looked at her, "use Acid."

This was a surprise. This was the first time Clarissa had given her Pokemon a command. Perhaps Tentacruel wasn't quite the strategist her other Pokemon were.

Nevertheless, Tentacruel seemed good at taking orders as he shot a ball of liquid towards Heracross. Before the beetle and Jacob could even realize what was going on, Heracross took a fierce blow to the chest, his back ramming into the ceiling. But that was the least of his worries.

The beetle shook off the pain in his head and flew in attempting another Aerial Ace, but this time Tentacruel was prepared. Seconds before Heracross could strike, Tentacruel whipped out his tentacles and caught the Hercules beetle within them. Heracross groaned in agony as Tentacruel's grip tightened. This was his Constrict attack and it trapped opponents within it.

'No,' Jacob thought, 'we can't lose now. We were doing so good until now.'

Then he saw it. Tentacruel had carelessly forgotten to use all of his tentacles for the attack, thus less pressure was applied to it. But did Heracross have the strength to escape even with an eighth of the power missing? There was only one way to find out.

"HERACROSS, SPIN AND USE NIGHT SLASH!!!!" Jacob shouted as the beetle grinned and started to twist his body. Tentacruel started to lose his grip as he now had a worried expression on his face.

After a fierce struggle, Heracross managed to free himself. He also pulled the tentacles with him, lifting up Tentacruel and sending the jellyfish flying into the air.

As Tentacruel descended towards the ground, Heracross lashed his claws downward sending the jellyfish spiraling into a platform, knocking him out for good. Clarissa sighed and returned her partner saying, "That was some very quick thinking, Jacob."

Unfortunately, it wasn't all good for the boy. Heracross had taken in a lot of pain and that Acid had actually done more damage than first predicted, and as such, he was feeling very weak after using straining himself and ignoring the pain for so long. Jacob sighed and returned Heracross to his ball saying, "Great job out there, buddy. You deserve a good, long rest."

This was it. Clarissa was down to her last Pokemon while Jacob still had two left. Jacob, of course, went with the obvious choice as he sent Lucario into the battle area.

Clarissa smiled and hurled her last Pokeball shouting, "GO CLOYSTER!!!"

Jacob didn't like the sound of that. Cloyster had a very tough shell that was almost unbreakable. That was sure to be a problem.

However, he was shocked by what he saw emerge from the ball. If it hadn't been for the unicorn horn atop its head, he wouldn't have believed for a second that this was a Cloyster.

This Cloyster didn't have a shell. In fact, he was nothing but a purple ball. If Jacob had only seen Clarissa's battle at the Team Advent head quarters, this wouldn't have been so much of a shock.

I'm sure many of you reading at home already know this, but during the attack on the Team Advent base Clarissa had faced off against Perona. Cloyster went up against Zaptos and during the battle, Zaptos destroyed his shell with Drill Peck.

Despite this event, Clarissa was still willing to battle with Cloyster. Of course, Jacob could only feel confident during this. Without a shell, Cloyster could not defend himself nor could he use Spike Cannon. Besides, Cloyster was weak against fighting type moves, so this was perfect.

Another factor that seemed quite lucky was that Cloyster couldn't swim in this state. He was far too light and without hands or feet, he couldn't shift his weight. All he could do was float on the water's surface.

"LUCARIO, USE AURA SPHERE!!!" Jacob shouted as the infant cupped his hands together, preparing a ball of energy.

But Cloyster was ready as he shot a beam from his horn. The beam managed to pass straight through the Aura Sphere, destroying the ball of energy in the process, while Lucario's body was soon covered in ice.

Jacob cringed at the result of the Ice Beam. Clearly, this battle wouldn't be as easy as he'd first expected it to be.

Clarissa sniffed, feeling very proud of her Pokemon. Despite the loss of his shell, Cloyster was standing strong. Before Lucario could free himself from his ice prison, he took in a small icicle that rammed into his shoulder, piercing through the flesh as blood ran down his arm. This was known as Icicle Spear.

"LUCARIO, PULL THAT OUT!!!" Jacob spat as the infant pried the ice from his shoulder, but this didn't change the fact that now had a small hole through his shoulder.

"Oh dear," Clarissa said with her eyes wide, "I'm so sorry. I wasn't expecting to go that far."

Jacob and Lucario grinned, Lucario ignoring the pain as the boy said, "Don't apologize. This is a battle, isn't it?"

Clarissa blushed in response to that. Jacob was, after all, right. A battle was a battle, be it with a gym leader or not. Besides, it wasn't as if she'd killed Lucario.

And so the battle resumed, Jacob needing to come up with a way to hit his opponent. Like with Empoleon, he needed to catch Cloyster off guard.

"I GOT IT!!!" he shouted with fire in his eyes, "Lucario, aim your Aura Sphere next to him!"

Lucario found this command rather odd but nodded as he shot an Aura Sphere right beside Cloyster. Cloyster didn't respond as he knew it would miss, but both he and Clarissa were shocked when the sphere stirred up a small wave, covering Cloyster's vision. This left him wide open for an incoming Aura Sphere to the face as he flew into the side of the pool, feeling serious pain from the collision.

"Cloyster, are you okay?" Clarissa asked as the Pokemon looked up at her, grinned and nodded. He was not going to let his master down.

Despite Cloyster still standing, Jacob and Lucario were full of confidence now. One more blow was sure to win this battle. However, when Lucario attempted another Aura Sphere to Cloyster's side, the purple pearl-shaped Pokemon spun his body around, unleashed its Whirlpool. The pool prevented this Aura Sphere from knocking up water, therefore it was unable to cloud Cloyster's vision like the last one.

Jacob's eyes went wide as the Pokemon proceeded to unleash a rainbow from his horn known as Aura Beam. This did it. Lucario felt too weak from the attack and passed out.

Jacob couldn't believe it. He stood there silent. Had Lucario just lost? Furthermore, what was he going to do? With Cacturne's fear of water, how could he win this battle? Let alone that fact, Cacturne was also weak against ice attacks and had no advantage over Cloyster. All he had was the damage dealt by Lucario previously.


	37. Chapter 37

Pokemon Quest

Jacob had to accept the truth. He wasn't allowed to use Infernape for this battle and Cacturne was the only Pokemon he had left. This was certainly a bad turn of events.

On one hand, Cloyster was not only without a shell, he had also taken in extensive damage from Lucario's Aura Sphere. Also, Cloyster was weak against grass type moves. On the other hand, Cacturne had a weakness to ice attacks and with his fear of water, his grass type attacks most likely wouldn't be able to hit his opponent since all of them were short-ranged.

Then again, who said Cacturne had to use grass type moves? It wasn't as if Cloyster had extra defense against bug type moves.

The cactus trembled as Jacob grinned and said, "Don't worry, Cacturne. You don't need to go into the water. Just use Pin Missile!"

Cacturne nodded and sent an array of needles from his arm towards Cloyster. However, much to Jacob's surprise, Cloyster was able to dodge, rolling his body around like a beach ball to get some distance from the needles.

It didn't end there. Cloyster proceeded to conjure up a large chunk of ice with magic from his horn. This was known as Ice Shard and unfortunately, Cacturne's fear of water prevented him from being able to dodge the incoming attack.

"BLOW IT UP WITH PIN MISSILE!!!" Jacob snapped, but the cactus' missiles didn't seem to effect the ice in the slightest as it hit Cacturne fast and hard.

Then the unthinkable happened. Cacturne took in more than enough force to be sent flying off of the platform and back-first into the water. Jacob's eyes went wide as Clarissa smiled, knowing the battle was as good as over.

Cacturne did all he could to stay afloat then realized that he wasn't even sinking. It seemed that just like Cloyster, he had enough buoyancy to stay above the water's surface. The cactus' look of fear turned to one of tranquility as he started to perform a back stroke, a look of relaxation crossing his face.

Jacob blinked and sighed, "I guess all he really needed to do was try the water first."

However, Cacturne had lost sight of his reason for being in this pool. He was supposed to be battling, and as one would expect, Cloyster took full advantage of this, sending an ice beam towards the cactus.

Cacturne saw the beam coming and started to panic, quickly swimming to the side while spinning his arms around like pinwheels to build momentum. Cloyster's eyes went wide, the Pokemon truly amazed by Cacturne's speed in the water. He was even faster than most water type Pokemon.

As such, Cloyster was unable to prepare himself as Cacturne's arm started to glow before ramming into the purple pearl's face. That one Needle Arm was more than enough to send Cloyster flying out of the water and into his master's hands.

Clarissa smiled and said, "You did a great job out there, Cloyster," the pearl-shaped Pokemon sighing with shame.

Jacob smiled wide as he embraced his precious partner. Sure, the needles surrounding Cacturne's body dug a bit into the boy's flesh, but Jacob didn't mind. He had finally won the battle.

Clarissa walked to Jacob's side of the pool and handed him a badge shaped like a vortex saying, "You were a wonderful opponent, Jacob. You have truly earned the Whirlpool Badge."

Jacob sniffed and let down a tear. This was truly a happy moment for him. Jacob had just qualified for the Ultimate Pokemon Challenge. All of his hard work had been worth it.

Jacob felt bad, though. Lucario was in terrible condition after his battle with Cloyster. As such, he had to rush the infant to the Pokemon Center and miss Izy's final contest battle.

However, when he arrived, he was shocked to see his friends already there waiting for him, the contest already over. Izy had won, of course, and Jacob couldn't have been happier.

"Well, this is it," Izy said, "You now have 8 badges. That means you have a chance to become a champion."

Anna smiled her warm smile that everyone was used to and said, "I knew you would win, Jacob."

The boy then remembered something and sighed, "As much as I hate to do it, I think I should call my mom right now to see how she's doing. I know she's gonna nag me for it, though, and it's eating me up inside."

Izy blinked and asked, "Does your mom hate getting phone calls from you or something?"

"No, it's not that," Jacob sighed, then he felt the need to explain. He told of how he had become a trainer against his mother's wishes and how he never directly told her he was leaving. He explained how the only reason he was shooting for the Ultimate Pokemon Challenge was to prove his mother wrong and make her regret never allowing him to pursue the life of a trainer.

Izy had no idea what to say to that. On one hand, she understood doing anything to achieve one's goal in life. On the other hand, what Jacob did was selfish and insensitive to his mother's feelings.

"I think you did the right thing," said a small voice, Jacob and Izy turned to their friend with shocked expressions.

"What do you mean, Anna?" Jacob replied as the girl smiled and replied, "If you had listened to your mom, she would spend her whole life worrying about you even when you're old enough to make your own decisions. By going off on your own journey, you've proven your independence."

Jacob smiled proudly as Anna continued, "Also, Darkrai sent you that egg because you were to save the world from Team Advent and Giratina. If it hadn't been for you, the world would have been doomed. It's not like you were to blame for the legends' capture. If you hadn't been around, Giratina would have truly destroyed the world."

That was certainly true. If Jacob hadn't disobeyed his mother's orders, what would have happened to the world? Would it have been destroyed like Anna had predicted? As she said, Jacob leaving his hometown had nothing to do with Giratina's reawakening. One could only imagine what would have happened if Giratina had been revived and Jacob hadn't been around to stop him.

"Thanks, Anna," Jacob said with a smile, "I know just what to tell mom when I phone her."

Jacob slowly made his way towards the Center's phone, which was like a big screen TV. Most phones these days were like this. When in use, they would show the face of the person on the other end through the TV screen.

Jacob let out a sigh and punched in his phone number. He just knew this wasn't going to end well, but even if his mom didn't see things his way, he was proud of what he had accomplished.

The young woman was sitting on the couch holding a book when the phone rang. She slowly approached it, a look of depression on her face. As it turns out, she wasn't even reading the book. She was merely flipping through pages to ignore the long absence of her son.

As soon as she saw a familiar face on the other end, her look of sadness turned to one of joy, tears flowing down her cheeks. "Jacob!" she sniffed, "Where are you right now, son? It's wonderful to see that you're okay!"

"Yes, I'm fine, mom," Jacob sighed, "I'm currently in Grandin Town and I'm headed to Horolov tomorrow."

His mother's look of happiness turned to one of sadness as she said, "Son, I'm worried about you. Stop this Pokemon training nonsense and come home."

"No," Jacob remarked as his mother had a look of shock, "Mom, I have come a long way. I'm not a child anymore."

His mother was silent as he proceeded to tell her everything. Jacob told of how he had won all 8 gym badges and how he had faced Team Advent. He went on to tell of his confrontation with Giratina, the Pokemon who had killed his father. When he mentioned that he had killed Giratina, his mother was both impressed and worried at the same time. Jacob left out the brutal details, such as the death of Lucario during that battle and Shaymin's sacrifice, but he did mention having an alliance with the legendary Pokemon and how the end of the world would have been inevitable had it not been for him.

All of this information left his mother speechless. While she was certainly proud of her son for all of this, the fact that his journey had been so dangerous made her worry. But with the worst over, was there really anything for her to worry about?

"Jacob…" she sniffed, trying her best to hold in her tears, "I would love for you to come home…"

Jacob looked at her with disbelief until she added, "but I know very well that I can't make you come back. If you want to battle in that tournament or whatever it is, you're free to do so. I'm sorry to have kept you from this for so long."

The boy had never felt happier in his life. He wanted his hug his mom so much. It was shame, though. She wasn't really there with him. The TV screen with her image was, but she wasn't.

Nevertheless, things were finally going Jacob's way. His mom had even made a promise before the call was over to watch Jacob's battles on the TV at home. With his mother supporting him, Jacob no longer had a reason to worry.

He returned to his friends and noticed that his Pokemon had been fully healed. This was it. There was no turning back now. As Jacob had explained earlier, the group was headed off to Horolov. Horolov was the largest and most highly populated city on the continent. This was where the Ultimate Pokemon Challenge was to be held.

There would be many entering, of course. The Ultimate Pokemon Challenge always had at least 36 contestants. Needless to say, Jacob would have some very tough competition, but he was determined to become the champion.

But what was some tough competition to him? Jacob had dealt with some of the best trainers known to man. He had seen the worst and pulled through to the end. He just needed to remember that there was no way this could possibly be as bad as Giratina was.

The only downside was that Lucario no longer had his amazing power from before. Nevertheless, the infant was still a strong ally, so this didn't worry Jacob in the slightest. He had confidence in his team, after all.

Also, he had his friends cheering him on from the sidelines and his mother watching at home. He had a lot of support during all of this. He'd also heard rumor that the gym leaders and the Elite Four would be spectators for the event. That also gave him confidence as he was on good terms with all of them.

Yes, Jacob had gone where most trainers dreamed of going and beyond that. Even if he lost the Ultimate Pokemon Challenge, he knew that all he had done up to this point had been worth it. The boy had not only become a great trainer but a hero. It was a sad shame only a small percentage of the world's population knew this, though.

His heroic acts had never been featured on the news and everyone who had been present during the whole situation refused to breathe a word of this as mentioning Giratina's awakening would most likely cause panic. Nevertheless, Jacob felt proud of himself. His accomplishments had been far greater than he had ever dreamed they would be.

As such, he was confident in his abilities. He was more ready than ever to take on the challenge ahead and nothing was going to stop him. And sure enough, the trio and Lucario arrived in Horolov.

The city was even bigger than Jacob had imagined, and that was saying something when one thinks of its reputation. There was all kinds of excitement throughout Horolov, and why shouldn't there have been? Everyone was looking forward to the Ultimate Pokemon Challenge.

"This is it, guys," Jacob said with a smile, "I promise I'll do my best out there!"

Izy and Anna nodded, giving the boy thumbs up as Jacob headed towards the stadium where the tournament was to be held. With his 8 badges and his will to make it to the top, nothing was going to stop him from achieving his dream.


	38. Chapter 38

Pokemon Quest

Jacob approached the front desk where a woman was greeting the participants. Each presented their gym badges with confidence. Of course, not all of them were signing up that day. Many had earned their gym badges over a month prior to the day of the tournament while others were still working towards that eighth badge. Had Jacob taken another week getting his last badge, he would have been too late to sign up for this one.

Soon he was at the front of the line as the woman smiled and asked, "May I see your gym badges, please?" Jacob pulling out all eight of the trinkets he had won from facing the best. All of these badges were the fruit of his work. The boy was proud to own each and every one of them.

At first, he'd had no intention of winning any tournament. The only reason he set out to do so was to teach his mother a lesson, but with her approval, it didn't seem like he needed to prove anything.

He owed all of this to his friends and his Pokemon. All of them were like a family to him. After winning his first badge, he'd felt a thrill he never knew one could have before. Now he just wanted to be a champion. He wanted his hard work to mean something.

All the while, Anna and Izy were exploring the big city of Horolov. After an hour of that, the two sat by a bench with ice cream in their hands.

"You know," Izy said licking her vanilla, "I'm glad I met Jacob. If it hadn't been for him, I don't think I'd have ever known what it meant to be truly happy."

"I'm happy I met Jacob too!" Anna replied with her warm smile, "If it hadn't been for him, my wish to travel the land would have never come true!"

Izy took one more lick to her ice cream and started to let down light tears. Anna looked at the girl with concern and nodded in understanding. She knew what was on Izy's mind and Anna felt the same. They knew that once this all ended, Each and every one of them would go his or her separate way again. Jacob would return home to his mother, Izy would go back to her house and Anna would live in peace with her sister. After this tournament, their main purpose for traveling together would have been fulfilled.

Team Advent had been defeated, so they had no reason to go after them. The tournament was all they had left.

The tournament… was all they had left…

"I'm going to miss him," Izy sniffed as Anna placed a hand on the girl's shoulder and said, "It doesn't have to end when the tournament's over."

"What do you mean?" Izy remarked as Anna's warm smile crossed her face and the young girl replied, "You don't have a family to go back to. Why not treat Jacob like your family?"

Izy stood up in response to this and said, "I need some time alone," and walked off while Anna let out a sigh. Maybe Anna was right.

Izy ran over to a bench and sat there, her hands on her chin and her eyes facing the sky. What was coming over her? Until she'd met Jacob, she had never really been the emotional type. In fact, she wasn't even that friendly of a person.

But something about Jacob made her more sociable from the get-go. She couldn't quite comprehend what that something was, though. Whatever it was, it had made her a much happier person.

'What should I do?' Izy thought before her eyes went wide in response to a crusty voice saying, "You like him, don't you?"

Izy turned her gaze to see an old woman sitting right next to her. Her eyes went wide, the girl not only wondering where this woman had come from but how she seemed to understand the whole situation.

"Excuse me?" Izy remarked as the old woman said, "You like him, don't you?"

Izy blinked and said, "Well, of course I like Jacob. He's a very good friend."

The old woman chuckled and replied, "Oh, you silly, silly girl… I meant as more than just a friend."

Izy's eyes went wide again. Was this old woman implying that she… loved Jacob? That wasn't possible. Izy had never felt romantic towards anyone before. Until now, she believed that she was incapable of such thoughts.

"Stop fooling yourself, young girl," the old woman said with a smirk, "You have feelings for the young boy, I can sense it."

Izy bit her lip and rose to her feet, glaring at the old woman and saying, "I shouldn't be talking to strangers," and marched away from the woman, blushing. Why would she be in love with Jacob? He was just a friend to her. The thought of her having romantic thoughts about him was absurd.

Whether this was true or not, Izy did know one thing. She knew that as a friend, she needed to be less selfish and more loyal to her friends. Even if it meant she'd never see Jacob again, she had to do the right thing and support him during this whole event. If Jacob was to become a champion, he needed all the help he could get.

She returned to Anna who was still sitting on the bench, her ice cream finished, and was surprised to see Jacob sitting next to Anna as well. He looked up and waved at Izy, the girl letting out a sigh and joining the two.

"Jacob and I were discussing the tournament," Anna stated as Jacob nodded and said, "I looked over the rules. It turns out each battle is 3-on-3, meaning I need to know about my opponents before facing them so I can choose the right Pokemon."

Lucario was staring at a flower next to the bench, so he was at least avoiding boredom. All the while, Izy, Anna and Jacob were discussing what could be done. As it just so happened, the stadium had a training facility where trainers could boost their partners' stats. There, Jacob could study his competition. The building also had a room full of computers with data on the trainers. Jacob could use that that to research his opponents before the battles began.

For now, Jacob's best bet was to train his Pokemon, and train he did. For the remainder of the week leading up to the Ultimate Pokemon Challenge, he sparred with his friends. It was only a matter of time until he was finally able to defeat Anna, let alone Izy who had given Jacob more of a reason to believe she should have been in the tournament as well.

And as the week came to a close, the day of the tournament had arrived. More than the usual number of competitors had entered this year, 62 to be exact. Among all of them, one struck Jacob by surprise. Jenna was actually one of the contestants. How she'd managed 8 badges in such a short time was beyond his imagination, but the fact that she even went for the Pokemon challenge was also a shock. At least she wasn't trying to steal Pokemon anymore.

She woman noticed Jacob among the contestants and grinned. Despite being a good guy, she still felt a burning desire to defeat Jacob in a battle once and for all, and with his Lucario normal now, it could actually happen.

But even if Jenna was to face Jacob, she would most likely have to defeat at least one other opponent beforehand. The tournament lineup would, after all, be selected at random.

As the contestants all stood in the stadium battle grounds where the lineup would be decided, a familiar man stood up on a stage before the crowd. Most of the people there immediately recognized him as Professor Moro.

"Attention, trainers!" he shouted as everyone started whispering things such as "I can't believe I'm in the presence of Professor Moro" and "He's younger than most professors".

"SILENCE!!!!" Moro spat as everything was silent, the man clearing his throat and saying, "Good."

The professor went on to say, "You're all here today because you have earned the right to be in this tournament. Here, you will be facing some of the best that this region has to offer. You have, after all, defeated eight gym leaders, correct?"

The man chuckled as some trainers nervously pulled on their collars, others shifting their eyes back and forth and a couple whistling innocently. Moro pretended not to notice these people because removing them would only give him a reason to call off the Pokemon Challenge.

"You have all worked very hard, traveled long distances," the man stated, "All of your hard work is going to pay off starting today! In only a mere hour, this tournament will begin and this stadium will be filled to the brim with spectators, all expecting you to do your best!"

The trainers started to show enthusiasm, some feeling more scared than when they entered, one even coming close to fainting as Moro added, "Along with the hundreds watching you battle here, there will be thousands watching worldwide, but don't forget, you are also being judged by the true greatest in the region!"

The people were all shocked when all 8 gym leaders entered the area… well, all except for Jacob. He already knew that they would be watching.

Sarah held up the microphone first saying, "I hope you all do your best out there and remember, strength is an important factor."

Jonathan was up next, everyone rather disturbed by his smile as he stated, "Strength may be important, but skill is also a virtue! I hope you young trainers take that into consideration!"

Some people in the crowd rolled their eyes as if this was nothing more than a school lecture. Some of them didn't even believe in skill over strength.

Miles, who had replaced Derk only a couple of weeks prior to this event, grabbed the microphone and shouted, "Don't forget that anything goes as long as you don't kill anyone, so feel free to fight a little dirty!"

Some people in the crowd cheered in response to this while others gulped and looked towards the ground, afraid to admit that they agreed with Miles' words.

Next up was Marcy who simply said, "I hope to see some sparks fly in all of this!"

Aragon went up next and let down tears saying, "It really means a lot to see you all here today just so you can listen to me talk! As such, I would like to recite all of my favorite poems!"

The entire stadium let out loud moans as Aragon pulled out a long piece of paper, clearing his throat and saying, "A radish so red…" before Sarah yanked him off the stage by his ear, the crowd cheering and some gaining new-found respect for the girl.

Veronica stepped up as Aragon flailed his arms about, shouting, "You ruined my moment in the spotlight!" while Sarah rolled her eyes.

"If you lose," Veronica stated, "don't feel too bad. Everyone loses at some point, and in the end, only one of you will be this region's champion. If you lose, don't feel too disappointed."

Even the unenthusiastic participants applauded these words. Hers were the most inspirational ones said so far and the message was clear: It can't always go your way. This was something everyone in the world needed to accept.

Kevin stood up next as he looked at the crowd, silence filling the air. Everyone listened as he opened his mouth and let out the following: "Why did I come here again?"

Everyone let out loud moans as Moro whispered something in Kevin's ear and his eyes widened. "Oh, of course!" he exclaimed, "Sorry, I was thinking about something unimportant."

He then cleared his throat and proceeded to say, "As Moro said, you have all come a long way. And as Veronica said, the majority of you will lose. But if you do, always remember this: You made it this far, didn't you?"

Kevin received almost the same applause Veronica did. Much like Veronica, his words filled the young trainers with self-esteem.

Last up was Clarissa. The young woman smiled at all the trainers and said, "I can certainly remember your faces. Most of you chose me as your last opponent."

Some people nodded in agreement while others shrugged, the woman continuing, "From what I have seen, you are all more than worthy of being here. However, those who defeated me did it using strategy. Always remember that a good strategy is the key to victory."

Like with Jonathan, her speech was met with some boredom shown by the crowd, but nevertheless, the gym leaders had gotten a fair amount of applause… except for Aragon who bored everyone when he took over the stage and managed to recite "Ode to an Upside Down Cake" before being dragged off the stage for good.

Next up, Moro introduced the elite four and their new leader, Perona. Jacob and Jenna were both shocked to see Perona as their boss, but nevertheless, the five of them received cheers from the crowd since they weren't giving any speeches.

Afterwards, Moro decided the lineup with the help of a machine that chose at random. Jacob gasped when he noticed that he and Jenna would both be in the tenth battle against one-another.

One member of the audience, a man dressed in black leather and a hat that covered his face, sighed and thought, 'I'd better get a descent challenge from all of this.'

With all said and done, everyone was pumped for the tournament to begin. In only an hour, the first round would start up and the bleachers would be filled.

Note: Radish so Red and Ode to an Upside Down Cake are from Disney's The Reluctant Dragon


	39. Chapter 39

Pokemon Quest

After an hour, the entire stadium was filled to the brim with spectators, all looking forward to the many battles that would ensue. Professor Moro and a young attractive nurse next to him stood up on a stage, tall and proud, while the floor of the stadium opened up revealing a battlefield. It mostly consisted of brown soil and had white paint that formed the shape of a Pokeball in the middle. There was also a large white line spread out across the halfway point. This was meant to represent the sides the trainers were to stand on.

"Welcome to our stadium, one and all!" Moro shouted as the crowd applauded. Izy and Anna were, of course, in the front row awaiting Jacob's battle. The audience had no idea what the lineup was, so the girls had no idea which opponent Jacob would face first let alone which battle he would be in.

"I am Professor Moro!" the young professor stated as the young nurse next to him weakly held up her microphone, let out a yawn and said unenthusiastically, "I'm Nurse Boredom. Thank you all for coming."

Moro slapped his forehead as he thought, 'Why couldn't Nurse Excitement have come instead? I'd even take Nurse freaking Anger over Nurse Boredom!'

Moro saw that he was starting to lose the audience and quickly held up his microphone shouting, "We are about to witness a very exciting event, folks! We are going to see various battles between the top trainers in the region! They have all defeated eight gym leaders and have proven their worth in this tournament!"

"WOULD YOU JUST GET TO THE BATTLES ALREADY!!!??" shouted one obnoxious audience member while others nodded and started shouting at Moro who trembled, sweating nervously until a voice shouted, "SHUT UP AND LET THE MAN SPEAK!!!"

Many were shocked when they turned their heads to the voice and saw that it belonged to Kevin, the head gym leader in the region. Sitting near him were all of the other gym leaders. Their presence alone struck a strange fear into the majority of the audience members and this managed to quiet them down.

Moro sighed, wiping the sweat off of his forehead as he said, "Without further ado, let's get the first battle started."

Nurse Boredom rose her arm up unenthusiastically letting out a weak, "Woohoo…" while the audience cheered, clearly more excited than the nurse was.

Jacob's mother sat in front of the TV and sighed. She knew her son would be battling soon and all she could was pray that one of the opponent's Pokemon didn't hurt him.

Izy was quite excited to see Jacob enter the battlefield, however, she was disappointed when two complete strangers entered, each coming in from a different side of the stadium. She sighed, knowing that she had gotten her hopes a little too high, especially with 62 contestants in the tournament. The odds of Jacob partaking in the first battle was 32 to 1.

The contestant to emerge on the right end of the battlefield was a mysterious man wearing black leather and a hat that covered most of his face. With his hands in his pockets, he simply went under the name Sampson. The trainer on the left side was a younger boy with yellow hair and a taste for green clothing named Archie. Surprisingly, the kid seemed to have quite a following as the crowd broke out into cheers.

"Thank you, everyone," Archie said while blowing kisses to his public, "I knew having my battles filmed worldwide on the news network would pay off."

"I feel out of the loop," Izy said, scratching her head, "Who is this guy?"

"That's Archie," Anna replied, "He has a reputation for defeating all gym leaders without his Pokemon ever taking in damage."

Izy felt concerned upon hearing this. If this boy was really as good as Anna said he was, Jacob would have a hard time if he had to face him.

Sampson sighed and pulled a Pokeball out of his pocket as his opponent laughed, "So you're not even gonna talk to me!? I didn't realize I was THAT intimidating!"

Sampson frowned and hurled his Pokeball into the battlefield. The crowd's eyes went wide when quite possibly one of the strangest-looking Pokemon emerged from the ball. Not many had seen such a creature before. Its lower body looked like a small stone pedestal while its upper body was made of dark energy. It had two creepy green eyeballs, one with a swirling eye, and the inside of its mouth was also green. Surrounding its face was a ring made up of green circles, some big with yellow dots in the middle.

"What is that supposed to be?" Izy asked, feeling a tad frightened by its appearance as Anna tilted her head to the side saying, "I have no idea."

This was certainly a bad sign. If Anna didn't know, then perhaps Sampson was the only one who did.

"That doesn't scare me," Archie said with confidence while winking to his screaming fan girls, "That's clearly a ghost type, therefore it must be weak against psychic attacks."

And with that, the boy summoned Kadabra to the battlefield. Kadabra was an odd creature with bit of a squirrel-like body, including a large tail, a mustache and a spoon in his right hand.

To some, this was both stupid and smart. While ghost types were generally weak against psychic attacks, psychic types were weak against ghost attacks. It didn't matter to Archie. His intention was to hit first and hard.

"KADABRA, USE PSYBEAM!!!" the boy shouted as the Pokemon sent a beam from his spoon into the opponent's face. The crowd gasped when Sampson's Pokemon seemed to absorb the psychic energy like it was nothing.

"My partner is immune to psychic attacks," the man stated as the crowd gasped, not only at the fact that a ghost type was immune to psychic attacks but the fact that Sampson could actually speak.

The man said no more as he pointed towards Kadabra, his Pokemon grinning wickedly while a dark fist made of energy appeared next to him. The fist proceeded to ram hard into Kadabra, knocking the creature out cold while the crowd gasped. Archie's Pokemon had never taken in damage before, so this was a real shock, let alone the fact that Kadabra had been beaten with one Sucker Punch.

Archie returned his ally and gritted his teeth, finally losing his temper as he shouted, "YOU THINK YOU CAN DEFEAT ONE OF THE GREAT ARCHIE'S POKEMON IN BATTLE!!!?? THINK AGAIN!!!!"

Archie's fans started cheering again, knowing that such a great trainer wouldn't allow such a thing to happen again, but unfortunately, the boy's last two Pokemon were defeated more easily than his Kadabra had been. The boy had, after all, made some rather dumb moves back there.

Assuming that Sampson's Pokemon wasn't really a ghost type, he sent out a fighting type known as Hariyama, whose attacks were completely ineffective against this opponent. He'd also tried his luck with a Fearow, and while certainly a better choice than his first two, the bird had also gone down.

"I heard of how you never allowed your Pokemon to take in damage during battles before," Sampson said with a sigh, "Now I realize what your secret was. You focused too hard on building up your Pokemon's speed and strength but failed to realize that defensive properties are also important."

Archie gasped in response to that. When the crowd saw the look on his face, they realized that Sampson's assumption was right. Archie wasn't the great trainer everyone thought he was. He was but a mere coward who had been unprepared for the day his Pokemon would finally take in damage.

Sampson returned his partner and glared at Archie saying, "By the way, the reason I didn't talk to you until now is because I don't like talking to idiots during a battle."

The crowd gasped as Archie fell on his hands and knees, letting down tears. It was embarrassing, but he knew that Sampson was right.

"Some champion," Izy said with a sigh as Anna glared at Sampson, another of her rarely seen looks and thought, 'Something doesn't feel right about that guy.'

After another eight battles, it was finally time for Jacob to step up. Izy and Anna cheered wildly for Jacob while the some other audience members clapped. Some recognized Jacob as the hero who defeated Miles and stopped a horrible crime from taking place. He was, after all, interviewed after that by a news team.

When Jenna entered on the opposite end, Anna and Izy's jaws dropped. Not only were they surprised to see Jenna battling in the Ultimate Pokemon challenge, the two had never really considered her strong enough to defeat even so much as one gym leader.

"I don't know how you managed to make it this far in such a short time," Jacob said, "but this is going to end like it always does. You're going to lose."

"You would think so, wouldn't you?" Jenna remarked, "but I'm afraid I have gotten much better since last time. Besides, every time you won over me, it was with that girl's help."

That was true for the most part. Usually, it was Jacob facing Donavan and Izy against Jenna. Sure, he'd had his Lucario go up against Jenna's Dragonite before, but Izy had one of her Pokemon handle Purugly.

Nevertheless, he still viewed Jenna as a waste of time to face in battle. Even without Lucario's powers, the boy was sure he would win.

Jacob turned to Lucario and said, "Don't worry, Lucario, I won't leave you out of this."

Jacob's first Pokemon was Manectric. Jenna grinned wickedly and said, "That's a good first choice, but I'm afraid you could have chosen better."

Jenna hurled her own Pokeball into the battlefield as a very odd-looking Pokemon appeared. Izy, Anna and Jacob were all shocked to see this Pokemon. It may have looked like three Pokemon, but it counted as one. All three parts were similar to moles with big red noses and each part was a different size, much like a parent, a teenager and a kid. The mole in the middle was big, the one to the left was slightly smaller and the one on the right was the smallest of all. Jenna had just sent out a Dugtrio.

This wasn't good at all. Not only were Dugtrio fast Pokemon with amazing digging abilities, but they were also ground types. This meant that Manectric's electric attacks would do nothing.

"USE BITE!!!" Jacob shouted as Manectric charged towards his opponent only for Dugtrio to sink into the ground. This was its trademark Dig attack.

Manectric looked back and forth in confusion, both he and Jacob wondering where the mole trio would appear next. Jacob had made a horrible first choice, and according to the rules, he couldn't substitute Pokemon until a whole minute was up.

Jenna laughed maniacally and exclaimed, "THIS IS PAYBACK FOR ALL THE TIMES YOU HUMILIATED ME!!!" as Dugtrio rose up from underneath Manectric, ramming his heads hard into the wolf's chin.

Manectric stumbled back a bit, but regained focus as Jacob bit his lip. He needed to plan this better. Dugtrio was too fast and smart to succumb to a forward assault. How was Manectric to defeat such an opponent?

Before he could think this through, Jenna shouted a command as Dugtrio sunk under the ground again. She was going with Dig again? This was not a good sign. How was Manectric to dodge this?

"I can't believe what I'm seeing," Izy said, "It looks like Jenna might actually beat Jacob."

Anna had her warm smile on and replied, "It's okay. Jacob will know what to do soon enough."

As predicted, Jacob did indeed come up with a plan at that very moment. He grinned before putting on a scared expression and said, "Wow, Jenna, you really showed me just how good you truly are. I don't even feel the need to give commands."

Jenna smiled with confidence, Donavan cheering from the crowd as Jacob winked at Manectric, who understood perfectly. Manectric put on the same helpless look that Jacob had as the crowd gasped. Was Jacob really going to let himself lose?

But unbeknownst to them, Manectric and Jacob were keeping quiet for a reason. Manectric had his eyes closed but his ears were on high alert. He heard a rumbling sound coming right behind him as he leapt into the air the second Dugtrio lifted his heads up from under the ground.

The crowd cheered wildly as Jenna's eyes went wide, Jacob shouting, "USE FIRE FANG!!!" as Manectric aimed his body downward towards Dugtrio before jamming his fangs into the mole's biggest head. Fire emitted from his fangs and surrounded Dugtrio's body as the mole trio cried in pain, Jenna returning him immediately and sighing, "That could have gone better."

The crowd cheered, but Jacob knew not to let this go to his head. This battle was far from over.


	40. Chapter 40

Pokemon Quest

Jenna gritted her teeth and glared at Jacob. How could her Dugtrio Pokemon lose to someone weak against him? She had hoped so much to get her revenge on Jacob. Nevertheless, she needed to keep her cool.

Pulling out another Pokeball, she wound up for a shot shouting, "GO, GIRAFARIG!!!!"

From the ball emerged a giraffe with one half brown and a tail that had a fiendish grin attached to a ball on the end of it. Izy and Anna were once again shocked. They didn't think Jenna was good enough to catch a Girafarig. Nevertheless, Jacob knew what she had this time and was prepared.

"Manectric, return!" he shouted, returning the electric wolf. He proceeded to hurl another Pokeball into the area summoning his proud and strong Heracross, the Hercules beetle posing for the crowd.

Some people weren't all that impressed. Unlike Jonathan, they didn't think too highly of the chipped horn. Rather than considering it cool, they saw it as a weakness.

"You must be an idiot for doing that!" Jenna exclaimed, laughing wickedly as Jacob grinned stating, "I know Heracross is weak against psychic attacks, but don't forget that Girafarig is weak against bug type attacks!"

Jenna's eyes widened, her jaw dropped as the crowd applauded Jacob for his decision. That was certainly smart thinking on his part. But as the boy had said, Heracross was weak against the giraffe's specialty.

"GIRAFARIG, USE ZEN HEADBUTT!!!" Jenna spat as the giraffe stampeded towards the beetle, but Heracross simply leapt to the side, ramming his horn hard into the giraffe's side.

Izy and Anna clapped as Jacob grinned saying, "Your Girafarig may be fast, but Heracross is fast too. And by the way, that wasn't Horn Attack he just used."

Jenna was worried now. Girafarig felt very weak from the blow. It must have been Megahorn to have dealt that much damage.

"HERACROSS, FINISHER HER OFF WITH NIGHT SLASH!!!!" Jacob shouted while the crowd cheered. Not only were bug types an enemy of Girafarig, but dark type attacks were also just as effective, and since Night Slash was an easier attack to land, Girafarig would have trouble dodging this.

However, things were not going to be this easy. Jenna scowled and shouted a command as Girafarig opened her mouth and unleashed a bright beam hitting Heracross hard in the gut, the beetle flying into a wall.

Izy bit her lip as Anna had her neutral look on. Heracross had just taken in a Psybeam. As mentioned earlier, he was weak against psychic attacks, so this left him feeling very weak. However, due to his endurance surpassing Girafarig's and Psybeam dealing less damage than Megahorn, he at least had more stamina left than the giraffe did.

Jenna's eyes widened as Heracross climbed back to his feet, a grin on his face. She had really hoped that Psybeam would finish the beetle off for good.

"Way to hang in there, Heracross!" Jacob exclaimed as the beetle grinned toward him, giving him thumbs up.

"Don't think this is over yet!" Jenna snapped with anger in her eyes as she shouted, "GIRAFARIG, USE PSYCHIC!!!"

The giraffe narrowed her eyes as a purple aura surrounded Heracross, the beetle crying in pain. As the attack subsided, Heracross fell on his hands and knees, breathing heavily. Jacob opened up a Pokeball saying, "I should have gone with Cacturne," but as the beam shot towards the beetle, Heracross shook his head and leapt to the side, avoiding the beam.

The crowd was shocked as Izy's eyes went wide. Anna's neutral look was replaced by a smile as she said, "Heracross has enough strength to win."

Jacob bit his lip, tears running down his face as he asked, "Heracross, are you sure you can continue this battle?"

The beetle turned to the boy with confidence in his expression, Jenna just standing there, silent and wide-eyed. Jacob smiled and nodded as the beetle opened up his shell exposing his wings and soared towards the awestruck giraffe, his arm forming a dark aura around it. As the Night Slash landed, Girafarig cried out in pain and fell on her side, not moving a muscle.

The crowd cheered as Jacob let out a sigh of relief and returned his Heracross saying, "That was truly amazing, old buddy."

Donavan slapped his forehead as Jenna gritted her teeth. So far, this was going completely against her original plan. Well, she did have one option left. She could pick on her new Pokemon or she could choose an old favorite of hers.

"COME ON OUT, PURUGLY!!!" she shouted as the fat cat stood tall and proud. Donavan gritted his teeth thinking, 'What's she thinking? Dragonite would have been a MUCH better choice!!'

Lucario tugged at Jacob's pant leg as the boy looked down, smiling. Lucario would have been the best choice for this. After all, Purugly's only weakness was fighting type attacks.

"Go get her, Lucario!" the boy shouted as the infant stepped forward, confidence in his expression. Many people in the audience were surprised to see a Lucario of all Pokemon.

"Let's see how the little guy holds up without his powers," Kevin said as the other gym leaders nodded. Lucario was no longer the powerhouse he was in his previous life, but that didn't necessarily mean he was weak.

Purugly charged towards Lucario, preparing a scratch attack as the infant simply leapt to the side, dodging the attack and planting his palm into Purugly's cheek. The cat hissed and glared as Lucario dealt another Force Palm. However, despite taking in two fighting type moves, Purugly was not only still standing, she looked as if the last two attacks meant nothing.

'Of course,' Jacob thought, 'Purugly's large body protects her against physical attacks.'

While this was true, that didn't mean Lucario hadn't dealt damage. It just meant that defeating Purugly would be a slightly more difficult task.

Lucario charged at the cat, preparing another Force Palm only to take a large scratch to the stomach. The infant was now wide open as Purugly unleashed an onslaught of scratches known as Fury Swipes. Being part steal type, Lucario absorbed half the damage, but he was still unable to find an opening as a swift strike from the cat sent him flying into the wall.

Izy's eyes went wide at the sight of this. Was this the same Jenna who would lose repeatedly to her? But despite this turn of events, Anna had a warm smile on as if she knew everything would be alright.

Lucario shook off the pain and glared at the cat as Jacob sighed with relief saying, "I knew there was no way that could finish you off."

Jenna gritted his teeth, fuming at the head. She was fed up with Jacob's Pokemon frequently recovering from everything. No more was she going to deal with this. Lucario was going down no matter what.

Before anyone knew what was going on, Purugly leapt high above Lucario's head and fell upon him, her weight crushing him underneath. The crowd winced as Izy's eyes widened.

Jacob's eyes went wide as well as he asked, "Lucario… are you okay?"

Purugly licked her paw happily, slowly lifting herself up and trotting away from the infant. Lucario was lying face-down in the dirt motionless. That Body Slam was much more powerful than usual. How had Jenna's Pokemon gotten so strong?

However, all doubt turned to shock as Lucario's arm started to twitch. The infant planted his hands into the ground before lifting up his legs and doing the same with them. The crowd broke out into heavy cheers as Jenna and Purugly's eyes went wide, their jaws dropped.

Lucario slowly rose to his feet, prying his face out of the dirt and breathing heavily. Suddenly, his eyes started to glow blue, but this blue was brighter than the glow he'd gotten when performing Surf in his previous life.

The infant cupped his hands together as a blue ball of energy appeared. At first, everyone thought it was Aura sphere until it expanded in size. But how was this possible? Lucario didn't even have his powers anymore.

Jacob's eyes went wide as Izy and even Anna had shocked expressions. Lucario let out a loud cry and thrust his arms forward releasing a large blue stream of energy. The powerful wave blasted fast and hard into Purugly's face as the cat let out a loud shriek, an explosion appearing.

Soon the attack ended and silence filled the entire stadium. Lucario was breathing heavily as he passed out from exhaustion. Jacob's eyes were still wide as the boy was in too much shock to notice Lucario's state.

As the smoke cleared, Purugly was out cold, her paws twitching and foam coming out of her mouth. No one knew what power Lucario had used back there, but one thing was official…

"JACOB WINS THE BATTLE AND MOVES ONTO THE NEXT ROUND!!!" the announcer shouted as the crowd broke out into heavy cheering. Jacob finally snapped out of his shocked state and noticed Lucario lying motionless on the ground, running over and picking up his little friend.

"I don't know what you did back there," the boy said with a smile, "but that was really something."

Jacob exited the battle area while the crowd cheered wildly, Izy and Anna cheering the loudest. Moro stood up to the front saying, "That was truly a sight to behold! Lucario just used an undiscovered attack! (It also doesn't exist in the Pokemon games) That even made Nurse Boredom feel less bored!"

The nurse waved her hand slowly letting out a sigh while Moro slapped his forehead, shaking his head. It seemed nothing was ever going to make her feel truly alive.

While the other battles went on, Jacob took his Pokemon to be recovered with the assistance of a healing machine provided for tournament participants. While he waited for the machine to work its magic, Izy approached him slowly.

Jacob turned to see her coming and asked, "Shouldn't you be watching the other battles?"

Izy shook her head and said, "I came to check up on you."

Jacob smiled and signaled her to come over to him so the two could talk. Izy looked at Lucario on the healing machine and said, "That was some attack, huh?"

Jacob nodded and stroked his chin stating, "I wonder what that attack was called. Moro said it's undiscovered."

A smile crossed Izy's face as she said, "If it's newly discovered, that means we can legally think up a name for it."

That was true. The girl had a point. While Pokemon names weren't chosen by humans the rather the way the Pokemon spoke, their attack names were always chosen by humans. But what were they going to call this attack?

Jacob needed to think hard about this. The position Lucario's body was in when he used the move and the way the ball formed in his hands was very similar to that of Aura Sphere. However, the resulting blast from it was like a wave of energy.

"How about Aura Wave?" he asked as Izy shook her head and said, "It doesn't sound very impressive."

Then an idea came to Jacob. The attack had the force of many Aura Spheres as Jacob saw it, kind of like a storm.

"That's it!" Jacob exclaimed, slamming his fist against his palm, "We'll call it Aura Storm!"

Izy thought hard about it and said, "That actually has a nice ring to it. I like it."

And soon enough, Jacob's Pokemon were healed as he and Izy went to the stadium. Unbeknownst to them, Anna had left her seat to search one of the stadium's computers for information on one of the trainers. Her usually calm expression wasn't on her face but rather a more serious look.

"Sampson…" she said to herself as she typed, "Sampson…"

She soon found the man's profile and studied it carefully. Her eyes went wide when a certain detail caught her attention.

'That dark Pokemon of his is a Spiritomb,' she thought as she proceeded to read a biography on it, 'Only one exists in the whole world and its existence is said to be forbidden.'

Anna could do nothing but stare in disbelief. The biography told of ancient times when this ghostly creature performed terrifying acts against humanity, and as punishment for these acts, it was sealed away in the fissure of an Odd Keystone.

'How did Sampson get a hold of such a Pokemon?' she thought as she clicked on a link to a page telling of the theory behind reawakening Spiritomb.

'Once the keystone is found,' the words said, 'it must be taken in the broken tower in the Sinnoh Region. There, a magical force will encompass the stone and Spiritomb will be released from his prison and swear loyalty to whomever frees him.'

Anna turned the computer off and looked down. What if Jacob had to face Sampson at one point? Would the boy stand a chance against a being as powerful as Spiritomb?


	41. Chapter 41

Pokemon Quest

Many rounds had passed and the battles were, for the most part, exciting. After many a great battle, the final battle was between a boy named Jeremy and a girl named Janette. Janette was a truly lovely sight to behold with her elegant blonde hair and her rich dress. Some would have never guessed she was a trainer from the get-go because of how formal she looked.

The battle was almost at a close, each trainer down to the last Pokemon. Jeremy felt nervous while Janette had a calm, lady-like expression as if she knew she was going to win.

Jeremy had a small crow-like Pokemon called a Murkrow while Janette's Pokemon was a fierce metal bird known as Scarmory. The battle went for quite some time, but in the end, Scarmory defeated the small crow Pokemon.

Jeremy sighed as the girl smiled saying, "You did a good job out there," the boy running from the arena completely ignoring her words.

Janette simply rolled her eyes and exited the battle area while the crowd cheered for her. She figured she'd have to deal with poor sports, just not in the first round.

"And that concludes our first tournament round!" Moro exclaimed as Nurse Boredom simply had her head up against the table waving her hand around as if to say 'Hurry it up'. This actually got a few good snickers from the crowd as Moro scowled at the nurse.

Jenna sat in the audience looking down in the dumps as Donavan simply rested a hand on her shoulder saying, "Don't feel too bad. You did your best."

"I can deal with losing," the woman remarked, glaring at him, "The reason I can't accept this loss is because I didn't even defeat ONE of his Pokemon!"

Jacob looked at the board and noticed his next opponent was a young boy named Harold. The boy had a clean green haircut and a pair of glasses. Since Harold had partaken in the ninth battle, Jacob saw how he had won. The only reason Harold won his battle was because his opponent had fallen ill before the battle and had to give up on the Pokemon Challenge. This meant Jacob had no idea what Harold was capable of, and this made things a bit harder.

"Don't feel too nervous," Izy stated, placing a hand on his shoulder, Jacob turning to her and asking, "Whatever do you mean?"

"I can see that look in your eyes," Izy remarked with a devious grin, "You're nervous because you haven't seen him in action."

Jacob looked over at Anna who smiled warmly and nodded, the boy letting out a sigh. It just wasn't worth it trying to get anything past them, was it? Lucario quickly turned to his owner and patted him on the shoulder giving him a "There, there" look. Even his own Pokemon, the infant who was originally afraid of humans, was trying to calm him down.

"Did you forget?" Izy added with a wink of the eye, "we can look at his profile, remember?"

That gave the boy more confidence. Izy was right. Between battles, trainers were allowed to research their opponents. Jacob had no reason to be afraid. Course, the next tidbit Moro was about to add would surely take more pressure off of the boy.

"For the next round, we're going to mix things up a little," the man said as the previously uninterested trainers started to listen.

Sampson's eyes perked up as he thought, 'Mixing it up... this had better not make my victory more difficult to obtain.'

Moro cleared his throat and pointed to Nurse Boredom who unenthusiastically handed him a sheet of paper with the round 2 rules on them. Just what would it take for the woman to start caring?

"Round 2 is what I like to call the fusion round," the professor explained while the audience tilted their heads, wondering just what the man was yacking on about. Luckily, their question was soon answered when Moro added, "In this round, the trainers will not be going up against those that came after them. By that, I mean the winner of the first battle will not be going up against the winner of the second battle and so on and so forth."

"That doesn't explain why it's called a fusion round, moron!" Miles spat as Veronica smacked him on the back of the head.

"Thank you, Veronica," Moro stated, glaring at the former Team Advent general, "In the fusion round, you will be teaming up with that trainer rather than facing him or her."

The crowd was shocked at the sound of this as Jacob breathed a sigh of relief thinking, 'This saves me a bit of trouble.'

Some trainers didn't quite understand, so Moro continued, "Let's put it this way. The winner of the first battle will team up with the winner of the second battle. Said duo will go up against the winners of the third and forth battles. To avoid making battles too long, each trainer can only use one Pokemon, leading to a total of two Pokemon per team. Am I making myself clearer?"

It was still a tad confusing, but the trainers understood nonetheless. This meant Jacob would be teaming up with Harold to take on the winners of the eleventh and twelfth battles.

The boy walked over to the small boy who looked up at him nervously. Jacob held out his hand and said, "Nice to meet you. I'm Jacob. I'm sure together, we can make it to the third round."

The boy simply bit his lip, not sure what to do here. Should he even give Jacob eye contact? Truth be told, Harold was actually a very shy kid and wasn't good at making friends.

The boy simply bowed with respect for the boy and walked off in the opposite direction, Jacob blinking while Izy stated, "That was rude."

Sampson wasn't particularly too fond of this fusion round idea, but he needed to get through it. He just hoped that his team mate would be a good one. She was a young redhead named Sevanne and from what Sampson saw from her battle, she did show some promise, but was it enough?

The girl simply let out a sigh of relief thinking, 'Thank god I'm not facing Sampson in the next round. If I did, I'd surely lose.'

She held out a photo of her family and thought, 'I promised I'd get at least third place. I might be able to do it, mom and dad.'

Harold walked off to a secluded area and let out a sigh, sitting next to a wall not knowing that there was another in the room with him. "What do you think you're doing?" the stranger asked as Harold's eyes went wide and he looked up.

The figure was wearing a black cloak to conceal his real appearance, but Harold seemed to know right off the bat who this was. The boy looked at the stranger and exclaimed, "I don't know if I can do this!"

The figure struck the boy on the side of the face, a hand mark forming and Harold letting down a tear shouting, "WHY DID YOU HIT ME!?"

"Because you're being a wuss," the stranger remarked, shutting Harold up, "Do you want to win this tournament or not?"

Harold let down tears and weakly let out the word, "I-I do..." the stranger letting out a sigh and proceeding to say, "If you want to win, you're going to have to accept Jacob as a team mate. If you can at least pretend to make friends with him, not only can you win the next round, he may even let you win the third one."

"Why would I be fighting him in the third round?" Harold remarked as the figure rolled his eyes under his hood and explained, "I gathered info on how every round works. After the fusion round, you're going to have to face your team mate in the third round."

Harold had to admit that this worried him. He was secretly hoping his partnership with Jacob would last the whole tournament so he would win and the two could share the glory.

Nevertheless, for the time being, Harold needed to put his trust in Jacob otherwise he wouldn't win. And so he ran off to find his partner.

Jacob was looking up his next two opponents, Bert and Greg, when he noticed Janette sitting on a bench with her Pokeball spread out in front of her. She looked long and hard before smiling and picking up a specific ball saying, "I think I'll use you for my next battle."

The boy blinked, rather intrigued by this girl's behavior. She seemed very interesting. However, his interest ended when Izy placed her hand against his head and turned his gaze back to the computer screen.

"Both of these guys rely heavily on ground types," she explained, "I think your best bet would be to use Floatzel."

"Why not Cacturne?" the boy remarked as the girl rolled her eyes saying, "Some of their Pokemon don't have a weakness to grass type moves, but they're all weak against water type attacks."

Jacob had to admit that he couldn't argue with that logic. If Floatzel was who he needed, Floatzel was who he would use. Lucario folded his arms as Jacob patted his head saying, "Sorry, Lucario, you're just not the one I need for this battle."

At this exact moment, a certain kid approached the boy with a nervous look. Jacob smiled at the sight of his team mate while Izy glared. She hadn't forgotten about how the boy had fled without warning. Anna, on the other hand, wasn't really reacting to anything these last few hours since she'd returned to her friends. She was too focused on Sampson's Spiritomb.

"Hey, Anna," Izy said, nudging the girl on the side, Anna's eyes widening as she turned to smile at Izy asking, "What's up?"

Izy had a concerned look as she asked, "Are you alright?" Anna nodding her head and replying, "Why wouldn't I be?"

Izy simply narrowed her eyes suspiciously before turning back to Jacob and Harold, who had finally gotten to talking to one-another. Harold apologized for his actions earlier saying he was just nervous at the time. Both Izy and Jacob nodded in understanding, Izy feeling a bit more sympathy towards the boy now. And after a good conversation about battle strategies, Harold offered to buy the three kids and Lucario a fancy dinner.

Jacob, Izy, Anna and Lucario were very happy with this offer, but Harold didn't share their enthusiasm. However, he didn't show it. See, this invitation to dinner wasn't his idea. The cloaked stranger had set him up to this. He wanted Harold to get on Jacob's good side so maybe Jacob would go easier on the boy when the two had to face off in the third round.

Meanwhile, Sampson was sitting outside of the building on a stump in a meditative position when Sevanne slowly approached him and tapped him on the shoulder. The boy opened up an eye briefly and asked, "What do you want?"

"I just wanted to say that I'll do my best to make sure we both make it to the next round," the girl stated as the man smiled and replied, "It's good to know you're not stupid like my first opponent."

Sevanne blinked while Sampson continued, "I was worried you'd expect me to do all the work for you. I may have strong Pokemon, but I can't win the battle for you."

The girl nodded and ran off, feeling rather pleased with this. She was worried Sampson would hate her and see her as a nuisance. Luckily, he actually seemed nice.

The next day, everyone had gathered in the stadium for the third round. Jenna and Donavan sat in the crowd while Jenna growled saying, "I swear, if Jacob doesn't win this tournament after beating me so badly, I will NEVER let my loss go!"

Donavan sighed and thought, 'I liked it better when she could accept a loss.'

Moro and Nurse Boredom stood towards the impatient crowd as Moro exclaimed, "Welcome, one and all, to the fusion round!"

"SHUT UP AND START THE BATTLES ALREADY!!!!" snapped an obnoxious audience member while many others joined him, calling Moro names such as 'Smartypants', 'Professor Boring' and worst of all, 'Killjoy'.

The man was about to lose his temper until he heard snickering coming from Nurse Boredom. He smiled feeling that the sight of her showing some positive emotions was worth the ridicule.

"Let's skip the boring speeches and let the first battle get underway!" he shouted as the crowd broke out into cheers, a teenaged girl shouting, "THAT'S MORE LIKE IT!!!"

The first to enter the battle area were Sampson and his partner, Sevanne. Sevanne looked very confident while Sampson simply sighed thinking, 'I really hope these two don't disappoint me.'

Their opponents were not just a good duo, they were twin sisters, Mary and Susan. Each had short hair and wore knickers and tennis shirts for some strange reason. The differences between the two, however, was that Mary's hair and shirt were red while Susan's were blue.

"Oh, this is so exciting!" Mary exclaimed while Susan screeched, "I know! I just hope mom and dad are watching!"

They noticed one of the cameras circling the stadium and waved at it shouting, "HI MOM AND DAD!!!!"

Sampson groaned and slapped his forehead thinking, 'Good god, what is it with these staff members giving me stupid opponent?'

Nevertheless, he and Sevanne would have to beat both of them. The battle began as Mary and Susan sent in their Pokemon without any warning or even taking strategy into consideration. Mary's Pokemon was a cow-like being named Miltank as Susan's was a small teddy bear-like Pokemon with swirling eyes called Spinda.

Sampson gritted his teeth at the sight of Spinda as the Pokemon started tottering from side to side. He had always found their movement to be irritating even as a child.

"Are you alright?" Sevanne asked as Sampson forced a grin muttering, "Peachy keen!"

Sevanne sent in her Pokemon first as it took form. Her Pokemon was a slim fighting type Pokemon with a pink cap known as Medicham. This was both a fighting and psychic type, so he was a good choice as Spinda and Miltank were both weak against fighting type moves.

Sampson, much to everyone's expectations, sent in his mystery Pokemon whom only Anna knew the name of. As a response to this, Mary and Susan both panicked shouting, "EW, GROSS!!! THOSE POKEMON AREN'T CUTE AT ALL!!!!!"

'Okay, how did these two make it through the first round?' Sampson thought, his eye twitching. He really felt uncomfortable around these two. Never before had an opponent made him feel so annoyed. He could usually keep his calm, but not with these two. But would this hinder his performance?


	42. Chapter 42

Pokemon Quest

Moro lifted his arms up and shouted, "LET THE BATTLE BEGIN!!!" as the two teams started squaring off. Sampson needed to focus. He couldn't let these psycho twins get the better of him. He was usually more than capable of staying calm around idiots, but these two were just irritating to him.

Sevanne gulped, feeling rather nervous right now. Sure, she felt confident with Sampson as her team mate, but currently, the man didn't seem to be all that focused and that was alarming.

But after a few seconds, Sampson took a deep breath and put his calm look back on. He knew he wouldn't be confident facing Spinda, however, Miltank he had no problem with. That in mind, he turned to face Sevanne and said, "Here's the plan. I'll focus on Miltank and you focus on Spinda."

Sevanne blinked but refused to question this strategy. After all, Sampson had proven himself to be a great trainer, so who was she to go against a plan from him?

Medicham started off with a high jump kick. As no command had been given prior to that action, neither Susan nor Spinda were prepared and the small teddy bear-like creature took in the blow flying into a wall with Medicham's foot still up against her chest.

Mary simply laughed and said, "Sampson, you are very brave for choosing my Miltank as your opponent. You will soon find out that he is more than just a simple cow!"

Sampson's eye started to twitch again. Now the idiot was trying to sound like a martial arts master. How else was she going to annoy him?

"MILTANK, USE ROLLOUT!!!" Mary commanded and while doing that she performed a series of poses that would even embarrass a super model.

Sampson gritted his teeth as the cow rolled up into a ball and sped towards his Pokemon like a boulder. To some, this may have seemed like a stupid move. Everyone knew at this point that Sampson's Pokemon was immune to psychic, normal and fighting type moves. However, Rollout was a rock type move and Sampson's look meant that it would have an effect on his partner.

What also complicated things was that due to his bond to the keystone, Sampson's Pokemon couldn't move, so any hope of dodging the incoming attack was null and void as Miltank also couldn't be harmed from the outside while performing this attack.

'Hold on...' he thought, 'I've got it.'

He looked at his partner who grinned with understanding as his eye started to swirl faster than usual. A strange force came from the eye and each second that Miltank's body rolled around, her eyes would meet the force.

Mary laughed and asked, "Do you honestly think Miltank will be effected by Hypnosis while she's rolling!?" but she soon found herself contradicted when Miltank detracted from her ball-like state and fell asleep.

Sampson then looked at his partner with a serious expression once again, the Pokemon grinning wickedly before releasing a dark energy from within. The energy soon surrounded the cow as Miltank's eyes went wide. The cow lost all focus and passed out, Mary in panic.

"HOW DID SUCH AN UGLY BEAST BEAT MY CUTE LITTLE MILTANK!!!!?" she cried as Sampson rolled his eyes.

He then noticed that Sevanne didn't look all that confident and when he looked towards her Pokemon, he understood. Medicham had just fallen victim to a Sucker Punch. The Pokemon did his best to keep focus but Spinda continued to advance, rushing in for another one.

Sampson refused to lose this battle, so he stared at his partner who created a dark fist, unleashing his own sucker punch hitting Spinda hard in the cheek and sending the teddy-like creature into the wall. Seeing both Mary and Susan's Pokemon out cold, the crowd broke out into heavy cheering as Sevanne sighed with relief.

The girl looked at Sampson with tears and said, "I'm so sorry I was useless," as the man shook his head and said, "You distracted that runt long enough for me to beat Miltank. You did the best you could."

He then proceeded to glare at the twins who returned their Pokemon with tears in their eyes. He let out a sigh and said, "Now that the battle's over, I feel I can talk to you morons now."

The twins gasped as Susan shouted, "We are NOT morons!"

"Yeah!" Mary added, "That's, like, SO rude!"

"Don't kid yourselves," Sampson grunted, "Besides, you might wanna know the answer to your question, Mary: the reason why our 'ugly' Pokemon defeated your 'cute and cuddly little' ones."

Mary listened closely as she was actually curious to know. The man simply glared into her eyes and explained slowly, "Cuteness does not determine strength or skill you idiot."

The man turned to them and proceeded towards the door as Mary started to cry, Susan holding onto her shoulders to calm her down. Anna narrowed her eyelids towards the man before he left the battle area as Izy noticed it saying, "To be honest, I kind of agree with him."

"It's not that," Anna said shaking her head, then turning to Jacob she said, "That Pokemon of his is a dangerous adversary."

Jacob and Izy were both spellbound by these words. Not only that, they were shocked by Anna's behavior. She was usually so calm and joyful, but ever since she left the audience for a short little while, she had been very worked up. Perhaps there was more to Sampson than met the eye especially if it made Anna feel this uncomfortable.

The second battle went by fairly quickly and it was now time for Jacob and Harold to go up. Harold had a very nervous look in his eyes as Jacob looked down at him and smiled saying, "Don't worry. I'm sure that together, we can win."

Harold simply looked at him and faked a confident smile, but he was scared, very scared. Sure, he had Jacob as his team mate, but he wasn't sure he was good enough. And, hey, there may have been more to it than just a lack of confidence.

Bert and Greg waved to the crowd as they entered, the crowd giving them some applause. Greg turned to Bert and said, "After this, we're enemies again, got that?"

Greg nodded and said, "Hey, I know the only reason we're teaming up is because we have to."

Jacob saw that these two didn't seem to have anything along the lines of a friendship with one-another. That could have worked in his favor.

Jacob was the first to go as he sent in his ever-faithful Floatzel. Some members of the crowd took photos of the weasel Pokemon as she turned to the cameras and winked, Jacob slapping his forehead.

Harold slowly reached for his own Pokeball as Jacob saw the trembling and placed a hand on the boy's shoulder saying, "Harold, don't be scared. You can do it. I know you can."

Harold sighed and smiled, but this time for real. Something about Jacob saying those very words and the way he did it made the boy feel a tad more confident. It may have been the fact that up until now, he hadn't had a friend.

This had nothing to do with the fact that he was short for his age or the fact that he came across as a bit of a geek. There were actually many people who wanted to be his friends when he was growing up, but he always turned them down.

Was this rash decision due to his antisocial nature? No. It was his brother, a boy named Manfred. Manfred was the exact opposite of Harold. Unlike the short and timid little geek that Harold was, Manfred was tall, muscular and not afraid of anything.

Each and every day, Manfred would approach Harold, place a hand on the kid's shoulder and say, "Remember, Harold, never start a real friendship with anyone. If you do, so help me, I will send you to an early grave!"

The boy never understood why his brother was so opposed to him making friends, but he was afraid of the tough brute and refused to go against his wishes. For all he knew, Manfred could possibly kill him with his bare hands.

A cloaked figure was watching from the crowd as Harold quickly tossed a Pokeball into the battle area sending in what resembled a baby Brontosaurus, the four tough legs and the long neck. This Pokemon was also green and had two antennae sticking out of its head that resembled that of a flower. Speaking of which, this being had a flower around its neck and was known as Meganium.

"Good choice of Pokemon," Jacob said as Harold blushed with embarrassment then continued, "All of Greg and Bert's Pokemon are ground types."

Greg gritted his teeth and said, "This goes against our original plan."

"That's okay," Bert replied with a nod of his head, "We'll just choose different Pokemon for this battle. That's not against the rules."

Bert grinned and sent in a Pokeball as a Camerupt appeared. This was bad as Camerupt had an advantage over Meganium.

Miles stood up from his sheet shouting, "WHOOOO, CAMERUPT RULES!!!!!!" Sarah pulling on his ear and giving him a 'be quiet' glare.

Greg nodded in understanding. The only real problem now was that Floatzel had an advantage over Camerupt. He needed something that could stand up to Floatzel.

Unfortunately, none of his Pokemon had a high defense against water type attacks. However, he did have one Pokemon that had an advantage over Meganium as well and decided to go with that since he had no advantages over water. As such, he sent in a large boar-like creature. Its upper body looked more like a head than an actual body and its legs were strong and thick. He had a blue and white mask around his eyes and sharp tusks. This Pokemon was known as Mamoswine.

Jacob gritted his teeth at the sight of this. Meganium wouldn't have much of a chance against Camerupt and Floatzel couldn't do much damage to Mamoswine. Not only that, but Mamoswine also had an advantage over grass types.

But who should face who? On one hand, Floatzel couldn't do much to Mamoswine, but on the other hand she could at least absorb damage from it. Unfortunately, Meganium was far too vulnerable in this battle.

But Jacob had learned something from a few of his past battles. Sometimes, type didn't mean a thing. It was all about skill. He also remembered all of his research on Pokemon growing up. Meganium may have been weak against ice type attacks, but Mamoswine was weak against grass type attacks.

"Harold, have your Meganium face Mamoswine," he said, "I'll have Floatzel go up against Camerupt!"

However, Greg and Bert weren't particularly happy with this as the two grinned shouting, "NOT A CHANCE!!!" as Greg shouted, "Mamoswine, intercept Floatzel!" Bert saying, "Camerupt, do the same!"

When Camerupt and Mamoswine bounded in said Pokemon's way to prevent them from choosing their own opponents, everyone was shocked. Jacob was surprised to see these two working so well as a team. They must have really wanted to win. But the reason everyone else couldn't believe it was because Camerupt and Mamoswine were both heavy Pokemon, so to see them move so fast was alarming.

Harold was frightened out of his wits until he noticed a cloaked boy in the audience glaring down at him. Now he was terrified. He had to win at all cost, but how could he have Meganium win over a fire type?

"Don't be intimidated," Jacob said, "As long as you're smart enough, you can find a way around your Pokemon's weakness."

Harold was even more terrified after hearing that. Clearly he wasn't as good a strategist as Jacob gave him credit for.

Luckily for Jacob, though, Floatzel's attacks did have a good effect against ice types so she still had an advantage. Perhaps if Floatzel could defeat Mamoswine, she and Jacob could assist Harold's Meganium.

Floatzel started off with her water gun but much to the weasel's surprise, Mamoswine managed to dodge to the side. How was that even possible? Mamoswine wasn't exactly an expert when it came to dodging attacks.

'This is bad,' Jacob thought, 'This Mamoswine's a lot faster than an average one. I'm gonna need a sure-fire hit.'

And luckily, Floatzel had such an attack. Her body covered itself in water as she dove towards the boar for her Aqua Jet. Greg simply grinned and shouted, "HIT HER WITH BLIZZARD!!!!" as Mamoswine lifted up his snout unleashing a large gust of wind with ice chunks at his opponent.

Soon, the cold temperature overpowered Floatzel's water as she was now trapped in a large chunk of ice and fell to the ground, unable to move. Jacob was scared now. Greg had taken full advantage of Floatzel's attack.

Izy bit her lip and said, "This is terrible," as Anna had a neutral look. That was always alarming. It meant that she had no clue what the outcome would be.

Meganium wasn't having much luck either. Harold frequently attempted attacks like Razor Leaf and Petal Dance, completely unaware of the fact that Camerupt wouldn't even take in much damage from such attacks. That didn't matter as none of the attacks landed. Every time they got close, Camerupt would use ember, which went right through them and hit the defenseless Meganium head-on.

Harold gritted his teeth and saw that Jacob's Floatzel was also in trouble. He gulped and put on an angry expression, realizing that he had to win at all cost. At this very moment, something strange came over him. His look of fear was gone as he shouted, "MEGANIUM, HIT HIM WITH POISON POWDER!!!!"

Camerupt was unable to respond as Meganium quickly unleashed a violet powder from his petals as if all those embers he'd taken in earlier meant nothing. As a result of the attack, Camerupt had been poisoned meaning any attack he used from that point on would harm him.

"Don't worry about it," Bert said, "Meganium's too weak to survive another blast anyway!"

Camerupt nodded and unleashed another ember but unlike the other times, Meganium managed to dodge the attack. It didn't end there. He proceeded to leap up in the air, hitting the camel hard with a body slam.

However, things were still looking bad for Jacob. While Floatzel was trapped in the ice, Mamoswine had picked the chunk up and was juggling it with his tusks, hitting it with the sharp ends each time. This not only hit the ice but also dealt damage to Floatzel while the poor weasel was unable to respond.

Soon enough, the ice shattered as Floatzel landed flat on her face, Izy in panic now. Jacob was even more scared than before as he asked, "Floatzel, are you alright?"

Greg laughed and shouted, "Your Floatzel is as good as finished! That beating he just took in must have finished him off!"

However, much to everyone's surprise, Floatzel slowly moved her arms, planting her palms against the ground. She then proceeded to rise to her feet, breathing heavily with anger in her eyes.

Greg and Mamoswine were both too shocked to respond as Floatzel sent a powerful Water Gun to the boar's face, sending him back a ways. Unfortunately, Mamoswine had been in perfect condition up until now, so this wasn't nearly enough to finish the Pokemon off for good.

Meganium was still crushing Camerupt under his weight as Bert gritted his teeth until he snapped, "Camerupt, you can get out of this! Use Lava Plume!"

Harold's eyes went wide as a large blast of fire rose up out of Camerupt's humps. Meganium was unable to respond and fell off of the camel covered in burns now.

"Face it, you never had a chance," Bert said with a grin as Harold put on a serious face, which was rare for him, and said, "Yeah, I guess you win... but that's only because you took the easy way out."

Bert blinked, confused by these words as Harold continued, "You only won because you had the type advantage. You were way too scared to have a fire type go up against a water type, but I guess that is the smart move as it does avoid making the battle challenging."

A vein formed on Bert's forehead as he spat, "ARE YOU IMPLYING THAT I'M A COWARD!?"

"No, but thanks for saying it for me," Harold replied as Bert turned to Greg shouting, "CHANGE OF PLANS!!!! LET'S SWITCH OPPONENTS!!!!"

Greg had no idea why Bert would go along with such an idea, but who was he to argue? As such, Mamoswine and Camerupt quickly switched places as Jacob turned to Harold, giving the boy thumbs up while saying, "Good thinking, kid."

Harold had to admit, he was amazed. He never thought for a minute that he'd be able to come up with a good strategy.

The second Camerupt took a stance, Floatzel hit him with hard with water gun finishing the camel off for good. All the while, Meganium had been secretly storing up power for a solar beam during Harold's conversation with Bert, so the second Mamoswine entered the scene, he took the powerful grass type attack hard and passed out. Thus Jacob and Harold had won, Harold letting down tears.

"What's wrong, Harold?" Jacob asked as the boy wiped his tears saying, "I'm not sad, I'm happy."

However, the cloaked figure who Harold was trying to impress had left the crowd after the battle had ended. The boy sighed as he wanted to at least see some positive feedback, maybe even a thumbs up. Nevertheless, he and Jacob would face one-another in the third round.


	43. Chapter 43

Pokemon Quest

Harold immediately left the battle area after he and Jacob were announced the winners. It wasn't that he was too shy to accept cheering from the crowd but rather that he was looking for a certain cloaked figure.

But at the same time, Harold was feeling a strange pain where his kidneys were. He blushed, knowing this meant he needed a quick bathroom break.

"I must say, that wasn't nearly as bad as I thought it would be," a voice said from behind the boy when he entered the men's facilities, turning towards the source. The cloaked man stood there and looked down at Harold adding, "But that Jacob guy is clearly too skilled for you."

Harold looked at the man with a nervous look and shakily said, "Uh, I actually wanted to face Jacob and win fairly..."

"SILENCE!!!" the cloaked figure retorted, Harold more scared than ever before, "I am the brains of this outfit, and I will personally see to it that Jacob doesn't make it to his next battle."

Harold bit his lip as nervous sweat poured down his face. He was feeling a lot of anger towards this mysterious man right now.

"I'M TIRED OF THIS!!!" he snapped, the stranger's eyes widening under the cloak, "Every time I'm about to have a trainer battle, you always do something to make sure I win without having to battle! Can't I have a fair victory on my own for once in my life!?"

The cloaked figure sighed before leaping in front of Harold. The glare in his eyes underneath the cloak struck fear into Harold as his tough guy attitude had left him. Now Harold felt all of his confidence leave him and all of his courage was replaced by doubt.

"You and I both know that you cannot win by yourself!" the boy snapped as Harold bit his lip, letting down tears, "I mean, look at your Pokemon team! Meganium is the only strong Pokemon you have, and even he can barely stand his ground! I ask you, have any of your other Pokemon won a battle? Better yet, have they even so much as evolved!?"

Harold wanted to strike the cloaked figure so badly right now, but he knew it wouldn't do him any good. It was quite sad that the stranger was right. Harold was weak. He wasn't a professional trainer, and he knew very well that he hadn't earned his right to be in the tournament. However, there were two reasons he had ignored this fact and cheated his way into getting eight badges to be in the tournament.

Harold's mother had caught a fatal illness prior to this. It was said that without proper treatment, she would die in six months. Harold then heard of the Ultimate Pokemon Challenge and heard that there was prize money along with the obvious medal. When he saw that first place was 900,000,000 yen, he had to join to earn the money to pay for his mother's operation. And it was all thanks to this mysterious stranger's dirty and underhanded tactics that he had made it this far.

It was dishonest, it was cruel, but it was all for the sake of his mother. Harold deeply regretted it and wished it didn't have to be this way, but what choice did he have? Was he just going to let his mother die?

"I see you understand perfectly what I mean," the man stated with a wicked grin, "It's good to know that you've come to your senses. You know that you can't do anything on your own."

Harold looked down and sighed, "You're right. I can't beat Jacob. Please, do whatever is necessary to remove him from the tournament so that I may advance to the next round."

The figure grinned wickedly and patted the kid on the head. When Harold looked back up, the figure had vanished. He seemed to have a tendency to do that.

And so the last few rounds went by, and in the end Janette won her battle with ease. As she and her team mate gave one-another a high-five, Izy looked at her and said, "There's something odd about that girl but I don't know what it is."

And so the trio and Lucario enjoyed a free lunch from the lounge in celebration. Jacob was moving onto the third round and he couldn't have been happier.

"You know, you're facing Harold in the next round," Izy said, "Are you sure you won't go easy on him?"

"Hey, he may be a friend, but I'm not going to let him win," Jacob said as he took a bite out of a sandwich, "I've come too far to throw this away."

Anna still wasn't as cheerful as the others were used to her being. Something was wrong and Izy was going to get to the bottom of this whether Anna liked it or not.

"Okay, Anna, explain yourself!" the girl snapped as Anna looked up from her rice cakes and blinked.

Izy glared at her and said, "Don't play dumb with me, Anna. You've been looking extremely under the weather since the first round ended. What's going on?"

Anna simply smiled and said, "Nothing's wrong. I'm just concerned about Jacob is all."

Jacob smiled and placed a hand on her shoulder saying, "You're just worried I won't win. It's okay. That's nothing to keep secret."

Izy narrowed her eyes in response to this. Jacob was right. Such a thing wasn't worth keeping secret, and Izy had a feeling Anna knew that too. What was she hiding?

Now, one might be wondering why Anna was so hesitant to reveal information on Sampson's Spiritomb. It wasn't because she was afraid to reveal this information. It was because she didn't want to tell Jacob until the possible moment when the boy would have to face Sampson.

She figured that if she told Jacob now, he'd be too focused on Sampson and his ultra rare partner to care about his next tournament battle. She felt that telling the boy about Spiritomb would break his concentration and cause him to lose before he got a chance to battle with Sampson.

Meanwhile, Janette was preparing for her next battle, which would be against her partner in the second round, Joseph. She had learned from fighting alongside him that he used ice and fire types, so she picked up three certain Pokeballs saying, "You guys are perfect."

Sevanne gulped while standing in front of a mirror in the women's bathroom. She let out a sigh saying, "I can't possibly beat Sampson."

She let down tears thinking all of her hard work had been pointless. Her plan had been to make it to the forth round so she could at least win a third place medal and the prize money added to this.

See, much like Harold, she was battling for the sake of her family. But unlike Harold, she was aiming for third rather than first. This would have been simple were her opponent not someone like Sampson.

Third prize was a bronze medal and a cash prize of 60,000 yen. Her intention was to use that money to help pay for her family's most common needs. See, growing up, she and her family were poor. They could barely afford to eat let alone have comfortable beds to sleep on at night. The reason Sevanne needed the prize money was so at the very least, they may be able to afford a more livable environment and some more high-class food. She didn't want too much, so she only went for the smallest amount of money offered.

The girl let down a tear, knowing she had to defeat Sampson at all cost. That's right... she had to win.

Knowing this, Sevanne wiped the tear from her eye and stood strong and proud. She gulped down a large amount of saliva before saying to the her reflection, "I am going to defeat Sampson no matter what happens!"

By the day's end, all guests and trainers were ready to pack it in for the night. They needed to rest up for the third round. But when Jacob was just about to crawl into his personal bed provided by the staff, he noticed a slip of paper on top of it.

'I wonder what this is,' he thought as he picked up the slip of paper. He looked over the words as his eyes went wide.

Lucario, who was always lying on the bed, looked over at Jacob with a confused look. The boy slammed the paper down and said, "Lucario, mom's been kidnapped! This is a ransom note! We need to hurry back before they do something awful to her!"

Lucario's eyes went wide as Jacob turned for the door and said, "It's a good thing the staff provides transportation otherwise we wouldn't get back in time. Come on!"

Lucario looked over the paper with confusion. And could you blame him? It wasn't like he could read human text. However, he had a very suspicious feeling about this, but if Jacob wanted to leave before his battle, the infant had to follow.

'I hate to do this,' Jacob thought as he and his partner ran through the hallway, 'but I must for the sake of my family.'

Unbeknownst to the boy and Pokemon who were in too much of a rush to notice, the cloaked stranger had been resting his back against the wall next to Jacob's door. He laughed wickedly saying, "Yes, what a good boy you are, returning to save your mother even when she's not in any real danger."

The boy removed his hood revealing green hair and a tough face saying, "No one is going to defeat my little brother."

Just as Jacob was about to reach the door, a young girl's voice entered the area asking, "Where are you going?"

Jacob froze and turned his attention to a young girl standing right behind him. It was Janette, but what was she doing out so late? Well, that didn't matter to him right now.

"You're Janette, right?" Jacob asked as the girl nodded, "Look, I have to go. My mother's been kidnapped and I need to save her."

Janette looked at his suspiciously as she asked, "How do you know this?"

"This letter was on my bed," Jacob said handing it to her.

The girl looked it over. It said the following:

"Dear Jacob,

I am being held captive against my will! These men won't let me go unless you give them those badges you were collecting for that tournament. I don't know why they want it, but they say they'll kill me if they don't have them by noon tomorrow.

Sincerely,

Mom"

Janette had a rather suspicious look as she said, "According to this letter, your mom wrote it, correct?"

Jacob nodded as the girl asked, "Does this look like your mom's writing?"

Jacob looked it over and gasped. In his state of panic, he had completely ignored the fact that this writing looked nothing like his mom's.

Janette proceeded to ask, "Does your mom have a full understanding of what you're even doing in this tournament?"

Jacob thought hard about that as his eyes widened, the boy saying, "As a matter of fact, she didn't even understand completely why the badges were needed. And now that I think about it, how did this letter get from Redwood to here?"

Janette nodded and placed a hand on Jacob's shoulder saying, "This letter is fake. There's no doubt someone sent it to you forging your mom's name so you would be disqualified from the Pokemon Challenge."

Jacob bit his lip letting down tears as he embraced Janette, Lucario's eyes going wide from the suddenness of it. "I almost made the biggest mistake of my life!" he shouted as Janette patted his back and said, "You'd better get back to bed."

Jacob nodded and walked back toward his room with a big smile. It was nice knowing there was some good in the world. Janette didn't even know Jacob. She could have just ignored him and accepted less competition. But rather than doing that, she selflessly came to his aid and prevented him from making the biggest mistake of his life.

Meanwhile, Harold was having trouble getting to sleep. He believed that cloaked figure's plan had worked and it was eating him up inside. He wished he had stood up for himself, but unfortunately, he knew that he was incapable of such a thing. As disgraceful as it was, he needed this victory and he and the stranger both knew that couldn't be done fairly.

The only one left who wasn't asleep at the moment was Anna. She was up secretly doing research on Sampson's Spiritomb. What she found made her gasp.

'This isn't good at all,' she thought with a look of concern, 'Spiritomb has no weaknesses and has many immunities and advantages.'

She looked over the list of moves that did harm Spiritomb and sighed with relief thinking, 'At least beating him isn't impossible. Spiritomb also can't move because of the keystone he's bound to, so the only way he can avoid taking in damage is to counter attack. That can be used to one's advantage.'

After a few more hours, Anna found all the information she needed and shut the computer down. Anna was, after all, human and she needed her rest too.

Soon enough, morning came and the stands were once again full. Moro stood up tall and proud and shouted, "Since you all seem to hate my speeches, we're just going to hurry onto the first battle!"

The crowd cheered as Nurse Boredom let out a weak "yay" Moro glaring at her. A familiar cloaked figure sat in the crowd with a grin on his face thinking, 'Manfred, you are a genius.'

When Izy entered the audience, she looked over at Anna and was quite surprised to see Anna acting more natural today. This was refreshing but at the same time confusing. Why had Anna been acting so weird the previous day?

The crowd cheered when Sevanne entered the battle area. Sevanne took a deep breath and put on a serious expression. She had to win at all cost.

Sampson followed suit and entered the battle area with his typical serious look. The crowd didn't know whether to cheer him on or not. On one hand, they admired his skills as a trainer but on the other hand, some audience members were scared of that Pokemon he had used for both battles.

The gym leaders didn't seem to respect him much either but they had different reasons. Kevin glared at Sampson saying, "There's something wrong with that man... I don't know what it is... there's just something about him I don't trust."

"You're worrying too much," Aragon replied, patting the man on the back, "Calm down and enjoy yourself, Kevin!"

"For once, I agree with the idiot," Sarah replied as Aragon snapped, "HEY!!!!" but Sarah put her finger on his lips to quiet him down and stated, "I don't much like this Sampson guy, but he hasn't done anything illegal. Sure, even I don't know what his Pokemon is, but..."

"That Pokemon is a Spiritomb," Kevin remarked as the other gym leaders gasped. Even Clarissa was in shock. She may have been a little too trusting and positive around others, but even she knew that Spiritomb should have been gone from the world. Just what was Sampson doing in possession of such an evil Pokemon?


	44. Chapter 44

Pokemon Quest

This was it. If Sevanne couldn't defeat Sampson, her family would continue to live in poverty. She needed to win this one battle to at least ensure a good future.

However, in his last two battles, Sampson easily trounced his opponents with only one Pokemon. Nobody knew its weakness, but as Anna had discovered, such a task was impossible for this mystery Pokemon had no weaknesses.

The girl gulped and pulled out a Pokeball shouting, "GO BLAZIKEN!!!!"

At that moment, a tall bird-like Pokemon emerged from the ball. It had strong legs covered in brilliant red feathers with yellow on the bottom. With a sharp face reminiscent of a tribal eagle mask and long flowing white feathers that resembled hair, this was the mighty Blaziken.

"Not bad," Sampson said as he hurled his own Pokeball into the area. Out emerged a wolf-like creature.

Everyone was shocked to see a Pokemon that wasn't the mystery partner. For once, Sampson had chosen something else. This wolf had white fur and what looked like a gray scythe coming out of the side of his head. He also had a sharp gray tail and a gray face. This was known as Absol.

Sevanne smiled at the sight of this and thought, 'This is good. I may actually be able to win.'

However, Izy and Anna were both suspicious about this. Why had Sampson chosen a Pokemon with a weakness this time around? Let alone that fact, Absol was weak against fighting moves, and Blaziken had fighting type attacks.

"START THINGS OFF WITH DOUBLE KICK!!!!" the girl shouted as Blaziken nodded charging towards the wolf.

However, this wasn't the smartest move. Sure, Blaziken was fast, but Absol was fast as well. When the bird sent a series of rapid kicks towards the wolf-like Pokemon, Absol simply leapt to the side and shifted his head quickly to the side releasing a powerful wind known as Razor Wind.

Blaziken flew hard into the wall, a few drops of blood coming from her torso. Nevertheless, she ignored the pain and charged at him with her beak out and wind surrounding her body.

Sampson smiled briefly when the Brave Bird attack landed on Blaziken's prey, Absol skidding backwards a bit and cringing. The crowd clapped and applauded the young girl. So far, Sevanne's was the first Pokemon to actually land a successful blow on one of Sampson's.

However, Absol was still standing and not ready to let up as he let out a war cry followed by a group of energy swords surrounding his body. This was a move known as Swords Dance and what this did was raise the user's strength.

Sevanne had to take advantage of this. While Absol was bringing his stats up, moving would cancel its effect, so she had a perfect opportunity to get him now. And she needed to be quick. After all, Blaziken had also taken in damage from the previous Brave Bird attack.

While Blaziken rushed towards Absol, her fist glowing, the wolf's Swords Dance technique had taken effect, but rather than taking this opportunity to dodge, Sampson gave Absol a nod as the wolf's eyes glowed, a blue aura surrounding the bird's body. This was its Leer move and it lowered the opponent's defense.

After doing so, Absol took in a powerful uppercut from Blaziken and flew into the air. He had just taken in Sky Uppercut, a fighting type move.

The crowd cheered for Sevanne as Blaziken leapt up towards the airborne Absol, but despite all the damage Sky Uppercut must have dealt, Absol recovered in a matter of seconds, pointing his body downward with his mouth open, jaws soon latched to the bird's head.

Blaziken cried out in pain as a small bit of blood squired out of the sides, using all her force to pry Absol off of her head. Absol would not allow Blaziken to keep hold of him, so he kicked the bird in the chest leaping away from her while the scythe on the side of his head started to glow.

The crowd was impressed by what happened next. Absol spun his body around as dark blades came from the side of his head and went straight for Blaziken. The bird did all she could, dodging five of the incoming blades, but unfortunately, one managed to slash her leg as she fell to the ground, her leg now bleeding and took in the remaining blades.

"OH YEAH, FINALLY!!!" Miles spat as the other gym leaders looked at him with wide eyes, the man turning to them and saying, "What? There's been barely any bloodshed throughout this whole thing."

Now, this attack was known as Psycho Cut. While Blaziken may not have been weak against most of Absol's attacks, she was weak against psychic moves, which Psycho Cut was. And unlike Absol, who survived the move he was weak against, Blaziken was unable to move as her eyes rolled to the back of her head and she passed out.

"WAIT!!!" Moro called out as the crowd sighed. Moro looked over at Nurse Boredom who was fast asleep by now.

The man groaned and whacked her on the back of the head as her eyes widened, the woman mumbling, "Don't worry, I'm up Mr. President. What do you require of me?"

Moro glared at her and pointed at Sevanne's Blaziken. The nurse sighed and got up unenthusiastically before leaping into the battle area with the skills of a master gymnast. The crowd applauded her as Moro's eye twitched. How could someone with such a lack of enthusiasm pull that off?

The woman examined the bird closely and said weakly, "It's okay. She's still alive."

Sampson sighed and replied, "Now, why would I kill my opponent's Pokemon?"

Nurse Boredom simply leapt back up into the judge's seat as Moro's eye twitched more. He just didn't understand this woman.

At this moment, Kevin's suspicion of Sampson started to lift. Seeing the boy surpass his limits while still following the rules was truly a display of honor. Perhaps he was wrong to accuse Sampson of something sinister.

Sevanne sighed, returning her Blaziken as she said, "You did a great job. We might stand a chance thanks to you."

The girl proceeded to send in another Pokemon. It was her Medicham who she'd used in the previous battle. That may have been a bad choice for Sampson's mystery Pokemon, but against Absol, Medicham was a great choice.

"START US OFF WITH HI JUMP KICK!!!" she shouted, but she failed to realize that this was a bad idea, Sampson feeling a tad disappointed by this rash decision.

Nevertheless, Medicham went through with the command as Absol simply leapt to the side. The big flaw of Hi Jump Kick was that it couldn't be controlled and the user could not stop himself until he hit something. As such, Medicham flew towards the wall, his eyes wide open as Sevanne started to panic.

Medicham flew straight into the wall hurting himself in the process. The psychic fighter started to stumble in a vain effort to regain focus, miniature Pidgeys flying around his head.

Absol took full advantage of this, starting off with his leer technique. Like Blaziken, Medicham lost some of his defense before succumbing to the might of Absol's blade, which slashed open the Pokemon's shoulder, blood dripping down from it.

Sevanne's eyes widened with fear as Sampson sighed explaining, "You're lucky I didn't have Absol put full force into that. With the size of Medicham's arm, Absol could have easily sliced it off.

As Absol rushed towards Medicham to deliver another Slash attack, Sevanne shouted, "USE DETECT!!!" as her partner nodded and an aura surrounded his body, the Pokemon easily sidestepping the attack.

Detect was a fighting type move that allowed the user to dodge all incoming attacks. However, the chances of it failing increased each time it was used.

Nevertheless, Sevanne only needed it to work once. Sampson had to admit that he was impressed when Medicham took full advantage of the situation to land a Force Palm on the side of Absol's face. That Force Palm did it. Absol had finally been defeated as he fell on his side, unable to recover.

The crowd cheered wildly as Sevanne let down a tear of joy. She was the first to defeat one of Sampson's Pokemon. Granted, her opponent had been a much more fair one, but nevertheless, she had won.

However, Sampson was not the kind to simply throw a victory away. Even if he knew what her reason for being in the tournament was, he wasn't going to let her walk all over him. And this showed as he sent out his mystery Pokemon, Sevanne now starting to lose all that confidence she had before.

Luckily, Medicham wasn't completely useless in this battle like some may assume. He did have three attacks that could effect this mystery Pokemon.

'Please, Medicham, don't fail me,' the girl thought as she shouted, "MEDICHAM, HIT HIM WITH FIRE PUNCH!!!!"

Medicham's fist burst into flame as he charged at the mystery Pokemon, but before he could even attempt to hit his opponent, the flame grew too intense as Medicham tripped, rolling around doing all he could to put out the flame.

'No...' Sevanne thought with her eyes wide open, 'He's still not ready to use that attack...'

"This isn't good," Izy said with a worried look as Anna said, "Sampson's Pokemon would have countered that anyway."

Izy hated to admit it, but Anna did have a point. A frontal attack like that could have very well been countered.

Sampson was now disappointed. He had seen so much potential in Sevanne, but that display was just pathetic.

Medicham let down a tear as Sevanne said, "Don't worry, Medicham. We can try something else. How about your Ice Punch?"

Medicham nodded as a field of ice surrounded his fist, but just before he could resume charging towards his opponent, the ice became too cold and froze his hand in place.

The crowd started to sigh, some saying, "I knew it was too good to be true."

Medicham was now furious. Over the past, he and Sevanne had worked hours to try and teach him the elemental punches, but no matter how hard they tried, the Pokemon just couldn't use any of them without hurting himself in the process.

But this was important. Sevanne's family was at stake. Medicham had to win for his owner's sake.

An angry expression crossed his face as lightning surrounded his fist. This was known as Thunder Punch.

Sevanne's eyes went wide as for once, Medicham didn't feel any pain from the attack and charged towards Spiritomb. Sevanne let down a tear of joy, her eyes sparkling as she thought, 'He finally did it. He finally used one of the elemental punches.'

However, Sampson saw immediately a huge flaw in this plan. Medicham was heading straight towards his partner, not even attempting to confuse him.

The mystery Pokemon grinned wickedly as a shadow formed from underneath his keystone. The shadow proceeded to creep up behind Medicham and just before the Pokemon could land his Thunder Punch, the shadow latched its arms around his waist holding it in place.

Medicham's eyes went wide as the electricity faded. Sevanne's eyes went wide as the shadow leaned backwards, driving Medicham's skull hard into the ground, the Pokemon coughing up a bit of blood.

Izy cringed as Anna had a look of disappointment, which was another rare sight. She had really hopes that Medicham would win.

Sevanne returned her Pokemon with a sigh and asked, "What kind of move was that?"

"That was Shadow Sneak," Sampson replied, "It's a rarely seen ghost type move that involves a Pokemon attacking an opponent with his shadow. The shadow sneaks up on the opponent before dealing damage, hence the name Shadow Sneak."

The audience was truly amazed by this. Izy may have hated this Pokemon of Sampson's, but she did find the attack interesting. Anna's eyes even sparkled for the first time since the tournament had started, which was a surprisingly long amount of time.

Even the gym leaders were surprised that such a move existed, Moro grinning nervously and saying, "Well, I certainly knew what that attack was," pulling on his collar and letting down sweat.

Nurse Boredom was still not interested but had the decency to let out a weak, "You're bad at lying, Moro..." before heading off into a deep sleep.

Sevanne saw the situation she was in. There was nothing she had that could defeat this mystery Pokemon. It just seemed impossible.

She was just about to give up when Sampson held a hand up and said, "Don't even think about it."

Sevanne gasped as the man looked her in the eyes and said, "The reason I'm talking to you is because unlike my last two opponents, I see you as a smart trainer. If you were smart, you wouldn't give up just because the situation seems helpless. To the best of your knowledge, you could pull off something miraculous, but you'll never know unless you try."

The crowd applauded the man, the stadium breaking out into heavy cheers. Sampson was clearly a smart and kind trainer. While everyone had feared him before, they now respected him, even Kevin who had no trust in the man at first.

Sevanne blushed and said, "Thank you, Sampson..."

She wiped a tear from her eye and continued, "All my life, I've always been a nervous wreck. Even before all those gym battles I won, I never entered a battle completely confident in my abilities. But somehow, hearing you say that has helped me. You've given me confidence I never thought I was capable of having."

Sampson let out a sigh and said, "You're welcome. Now, can we please continue? These people came here to see a battle."

The crowd cheered upon hearing this as Sevanne nodded and sent out her last Pokemon for the battle, a tall frog-like Pokemon blue scales. He also had a large red sphere under his chin sharp spikes coming from the middle of his fists. This was Toxicroak.

'I need to come up with some way to hit that thing without my Toxicroak taking in damage,' she thought as she remembered a move she had unintentionally taught him once.

"TOXICROAK, USE DIG!!!!" she shouted as the frog nodded, sinking under the earth's surface.

Izy and Anna both smiled wide at the sight of this. It was clear to everyone that the mystery Pokemon couldn't move, so there was no way for him to dodge an attack like Dig without a move that effected Pokemon underground, and let me tell you, there were little to none that could.

Sampson grinned feeling rather satisfied. He knew Sevanne was smart opponent and it was showing.

The ground below the mystery Pokemon opened up as Toxicroak emerged, sending a fist upward hard in the keystone and sending the mystery Pokemon a few feet back. Since Dig was a ground type move, it had an effect against this Pokemon.

"Excellent work, Toxicroak!" Sevanne shouted, feeling more alive than ever before, "Now hit him with Poison Jab!" as the frog's spike turned violet, Toxicroak charged towards his opponent.

Everyone in the area was truly amazed by what they had seen, even Sampson himself. Not only had Toxicroak landed a hit on the mystery Pokemon, it actually managed to deal damage. Something about the mystery Pokemon having a look of pain of his face was satisfying for many audience members.

However, just as the frog was about to hit his target, Sampson's Pokemon recovered the previous move, now able to respond. It was too late for Toxicroak to respond to this as the mystery Pokemon grinned wickedly, a dark wind coming from his body known as Ominous Wind. Normally, this move wouldn't have been powerful enough to take a Pokemon who had received no previous damage out, but for some reason, Toxicroak just couldn't stand up to this move as his eyes went wide and he passed out.

All was silent as Sevanne dropped to her knees and started to let down tears. After all her efforts, she had lost.

The crowd sighed as Sampson's victory was confirmed. Sure, they had respect for the guy now, but they still hadn't wanted to see him win again.

Sevanne was about to cry when Sampson walked over to her, wiped a tear away and said, "Sevanne, don't cry. You were my first worthy opponent. You should be proud."

Sevanne looked up at him and bit her lip before saying, "You just don't understand. I had to win this battle."

Sampson's eyes went wide as he said, "You really needed that money, didn't you?"

Sevanne nodded as the man reached into his pocket and handed her a bag saying, "Here, take it."

The girl gasped in shock and said, "I-I can't," but the boy placed it in her hands and said, "When I'm the champion, I'll have far more than that. Use it to help your cause, alright?"

Sevanne wiped her tears, her face redder than an apple as she said, "Thank you for everything, Sampson."

And thus the battle had come to a close and it was time to continue the tournament.


	45. Chapter 45

Pokemon Quest

After a battle between two other trainers, it was finally time for Harold's battle against Jacob. Moro stood tall and announced his name, Harold slowly entering while trembling at the same time. He had felt awful about what the stranger had done and it had eaten away at him. The boy knew he was going to get away with another unearned victory.

Moro proceeded to announce Jacob's name as the mystery man in the audience grinned wickedly thinking, 'Wait all you want. He's not showing up.'

But that thought was soon put to a halt as a familiar boy entered from the other end of the battle area. The crowd cheered wildly as Jacob stood tall and proud with Lucario by his side, Harold's eyes wide with shock. However, the boy refused to say anything. If he did, he was sure to blow his secret.

'How is that possible!?' the cloaked figure thought while gritting his teeth, 'He should be back home with his mommy by now!'

While Harold was relieved to see that the stranger's plan had failed, he was also scared. Unfortunately, it was as the stranger had said. He and Harold both knew that Harold could not win this battle fairly. Harold's only strong Pokemon was his Meganium. His other partners were useless.

Nevertheless, Harold knew that he couldn't just give up. With that, he whipped out a Pokeball summoning his Meganium. Maybe, just maybe he could win the battle without the need to switch Pokemon.

"Somehow, I figured you'd use Meganium," Jacob said with a grin as he sent out his Infernape and Harold's confidence seemed to die.

'Dammit...' the stranger thought with a grimace as Harold gulped thinking, 'How can my grass type beat his fire type?'

"What's wrong?" Jacob asked, seeing the nervous sweat going down Harold's face, then it soon hit him. Harold wasn't sure about his chances.

"Harold, calm down!" Jacob shouted as Harold looked at him, still trembling, then the boy continued, "Harold, from what I saw yesterday, you are a very good trainer. I came expecting a challenge from you. Don't disappoint me."

Harold's eyes sparkled as a smile crossed his face. Jacob had a point. After all, Meganium had defeated a fire type in the previous round. Perhaps he could do it.

Izy was quite surprised to see that Anna's eyes were sparkling at the sight of Meganium today. Now things were at least starting to look normal again. She was more used to this look.

"MEGANIUM!!!" Harold shouted, "START THINGS OFF WITH POISONPOWDER!!!"

That said, the plant dinosaur unleashed a purple powder from his petals. However, one must not forget that Infernape was a fast Pokemon, much faster than Meganium. As such, the monkey simply dodged the incoming dust and aimed to scratch Meganium's face.

Luckily, this was just the advantage Meganium needed as Harold shouted a command, the dinosaur unleashing its Petal Dance striking Infernape hard in the face. Harold's eyes widened as he just stood there thinking, 'Did I just do that?'

Unfortunately for the kid, grass type moves were weak against fire types. As such, Infernape recovered with ease as Jacob gave the monkey a command, Infernape covering her body in flames, charging towards Meganium in the form of a wheel.

"MEGANIUM, DODGE IT!!!!" Harold shouted as the flower dino leapt to the side, but wasn't fast enough as his foot was grazed by the flames.

Meganium cried in pain as he was unable to respond when Infernape turned herself around and rammed into the plant dinosaur's backside. Meganium cried out in more pain as Harold started to tremble again.

'No,' he thought, his eyes wide open, 'If Meganium loses, I don't stand a chance!'

"INFERNAPE, FINISH IT WITH MACH PUNCH!!!!" Jacob shouted as the monkey leapt at Meganium with her fist out.

'No,' Harold thought, 'I've come too far to lose now...'

But much to his surprise, an aura surrounded Meganium's body. When the dinosaur took the hard punch to the face, he miraculously ignored the damage dealt and used that as a perfect opportunity to unleash Body Slam, his weight pushing down on Infernape's back, the monkey crying in pain.

Harold let down a tear of joy with sparkles in his eyes as the crowd cheered. Jacob blinked and asked, "What just happened?"

"Yeah, this confuses me too," Izy stated as Anna had her neutral look explaining, "What Meganium used back there was a move called Reflect. It cuts the damage dealt by physical attacks in half, so thanks to that, Meganium was able to withstand the Mach Punch with ease."

"INFERNAPE, COME ON!!!" Jacob shouted with fear, "YOU'VE DEALT WITH FAR WORSE!!!"

Unfortunately, Infernape's scrawny arms weren't quite enough to lift a large dinosaur off her back. After a few more seconds, she gave out as Jacob sighed, returning her to her ball saying, "Sorry to have pushed you so hard."

The boy then turned to his Lucario who had a serious look in his eyes. Jacob grinned saying, "Go get him, Lucario."

The infant stood tall and proud while Harold, now with a new sense of confidence, grinned and said, "Just try. Lucario will fall just like Infernape!"

"We'll see about that," Jacob replied before shouting a command.

What Harold hadn't taken into account was that due to his steel attributes, Lucario was strong against grass type moves. But right now, the boy was too into the moment to care.

As Lucario charged towards Meganium with his hand glowing, the plant dinosaur started gathering up energy in his mouth. Anna simply smiled as if this attempt at a Solar Beam so early in the battle was a bad idea.

This belief was proven as Lucario rammed his palm hard into the dinosaur's face seconds before he could unleash the powerful beam. Meganium had taken in so much damage from Infernape in the previous battle that he couldn't handle this one Force Palm and passed out, eyes swirling.

Harold's eyes went wide as all of his confidence left him. With Meganium done for, the boy no longer stood a chance, the cloaked stranger sighing as if all was lost now.

"Way to go, Lucario!" Jacob shouted before smiling at Harold and saying, "This battle's not over yet."

That said, Harold slowly pulled out another Pokemon and sighed, dropping it into the battle area, a small Pokemon that resembles a little girl named Smoochum appearing. Smoochum went down in only a matter of seconds as Harold returned her to her ball and sniffed.

"What's wrong, Harold?" Jacob asked with concern, "Aren't you going to send in your last Pokemon?"

Harold looked at the audience to see that the cloaked figure was no longer there. It was likely he had just given up hope, and sadly, so had Harold. He knew that it was hopeless. He knew that he had lost. He had nothing that could stand up to Jacob's Pokemon now.

"I give up..." he said quietly as Jacob tilted his head to the side and asked, "Can you repeat that?"

Harold looked up at the crowd with tears running down his face then at the judges and shouted at the top of his lungs, "I GIVE UP!!!!!!!"

The crowd gasped as Jacob's eyes went wide. Harold simply turned his back and said, "I bet you don't think so highly of me anymore, huh?"

Jacob walked over to the boy and placed a hand on his shoulder saying, "It's okay. We all get scared sometimes. But are you serious about this?"

Harold nodded his head and said, "Jacob, did anything odd happen to you last night?"

Jacob thought hard before remembering how he'd been given a fake note to trick him into returning home. He turned to Harold with wide eyes and asked, "Did you send me that fake letter?"

"No," Harold replied, shaking his head, "My brother, Manfred, did."

He said no more after that. He simply turned around and fled from the battle area, Jacob's eyes wide open. This was all very confusing to him.

While the following battles took place, Izy, Anna, Jacob and Lucario weren't there to watch. They needed to find Harold and ask just what was going on.

However, Harold was nowhere to be found. He stood outside of the stadium and sighed as the cloaked figure appeared right behind him with his arms folded.

Harold turned to him trembling and said, "I'm sorry, Manfred. I tried all I could..."

The boy glared, removed his hood and struck the boy hard. Harold let down tears and bit his lip as the boy, Manfred, fumed and snapped, "IT SEEMS ALL YOU COULD DO WASN'T ENOUGH!!!!"

"What was I supposed to do!?" Harold remarked, "It was your plan that failed!"

"Yes, it did," Manfred replied with a cold glare, "If I'm not mistaken, you were the only one who knew about my plan."

Harold's eyes went wide. That was true. Harold did know of Manfred's plan. But did this mean what the boy thought it meant?

"Listen," Harold replied while trembling, "I didn't do anything to stop it. I knew it would be stupid to try, so I just stayed in my room all night to avoid temptation."

"A LIKELY STORY!!!" Manfred snapped before sending out a Scizor to hold Harold against the ground by the neck.

"You also wanted to win fairly, did you not?" Manfred proceeded to ask as Harold nodded, Manfred grimacing and shouting, "Ah-hah! You DID sabotage my plan!"

Harold wanted to say more, but he couldn't. Not only did it look like Manfred wasn't afraid to have his Scizor chop off the kid's head, but how was he supposed to convince his brother that he was innocent? All he could do was swallow and let out a weak, "I'm sorry..."

"That's more like it," Manfred said, calling off his Pokemon, "Unfortunately, it's because of your actions that mom is going to die!"

Harold got up and lowered his head as Manfred left. He refused to escort what he viewed as a loser home. Harold was on his own. Luckily, there was transportation for the trainers to use.

Unbeknownst to him, Jacob and the others had witnessed this whole event. As Harold sat with his hands covering his face, the boy and his friends ran over to the kid.

"What was that all about?" Jacob asked as Harold sniffed, "That was my older brother, Manfred..."

Jacob placed a hand on his shoulder and asked, "Why did you apologize for something you didn't do?"

Harold turned his gaze to Jacob and sighed, looking away from him. He didn't want to talk about this with anyone. He just wanted to be alone.

However, Izy marched over to him and snapped, "Harold, you need to start standing up for yourself!"

The kid shook his head and said, "I'm incapable of that," as Izy slapped him and shouted, "Stand up to your brother and stop letting him push you around!"

Harold just looked into the girl's eyes and shook his head saying, "I can't do it..." Anna placing her hands on his shoulders, giving him a sympathetic look and asking, "Harold, would you please tell us what's going on between you and your brother?"

Harold sighed and decided he was cornered, so he reluctantly told the whole story. He told of how his mother had a deadly illness and how he needed to win the prize money to pay for her treatment. He also explained how he was still a beginner when it came to training and how his other Pokemon were weak. He told of how it was really his brother who had helped him cheat his way into the tournament.

"I don't fully understand," Izy said stroking her chin, "Why didn't your brother enter? He's clearly the better trainer."

"See," Harold stated, "truth be told, he did enter last year. The problem was that he was caught playing dirty, bribing people to lose to him and using the same underhanded tactics he's been using so far. As such, he was disqualified before the final round and barred from ever entering the Ultimate Pokemon Challenge again, so I had no choice but to enter."

"It's sad, really," Jacob said with a sigh, "While it was wrong to cheat your way into getting this far, Because of your loss, you won't be able to save your mother."

"Yes," Harold sniffed, "But I didn't want to beat you by cheating. I wanted to win fairly, and I've seen today that I just can't do it."

Much to Izy and Anna's surprise, Jacob smacked the boy upside the head. Harold looked at him with wide eyes, the two girls also in shock as was Lucario. Jacob had never hit a friend before.

"Harold, you can't just give up!" Jacob snapped, grabbing the boy's shoulders, "Your other Pokemon may be weak, but how often did you focus on training them!?"

The boy had to admit, Jacob did have a point. He'd only really ever focused on evolving his beginner, a Chikorita, into a Meganium, and for the most part, he wasn't even aiming for that. He only used Meganium so much because he knew that was the strongest Pokemon he had.

"You're right," Harold said, a fire burning within his eyes and his tears dried, "I just need to train my Pokemon more!"

He smiled and said, "Thank you, Jacob. I promise that when I enter the next Pokemon challenge, I'll be much better!"

However, one fact still remained. Harold couldn't stand to face his family after his loss. He agreed to at least postpone his trip home to watch the rest of the tournament, but he knew he had to face his brother again sooner or later.

Meanwhile, Sampson was also outside of the stadium looking at his partner.

"Well, you seem fine," the man said with a smile before looking at the bottom of the keystone with fear in his eyes.

This couldn't be. It seemed as if that Dig attack had been more effective than Sampson had expected. There was a small crack on the bottom of the stone. His partner was bound to that stone. If the stone was destroyed, the mystery Pokemon would die.

"We need to be more careful from now on," Sampson said with a sigh, "Don't forget, we need that medal."


	46. Chapter 46

Pokemon Quest

While the battles continued, Sampson spent the entire time trying to buff out the crack in the bottom of his partner's stone. Unfortunately, it proved ineffective as Sampson sighed, having no choice but to deal with the fact that a crack in a rock couldn't be buffed out without taking chunks off of the rock.

All the while Anna, Izy and Harold sat through each and every battle. There was something about watching battles with friends that made Harold feel much more confident. It was as if all his troubles were over. Unfortunately for him, they weren't. He'd still have to face Manfred again and deal with the fact that his mother was going to die.

They watched as Janette won her battle, defeating a blue turtle-like Pokemon called Wartortle with an electric wolf known as Luxray. Her opponent, a young boy named Johannes, sighed and shook hands with her, accepting his defeat.

"And that does it for our third round," Moro stated as Nurse Boredom simply rose her arm unenthusiastically into the air letting out a weak, "Woohoo..."

Moro glared at her before turning back to the crowd and saying, "We're now entering the quarter-finals, folks! This means there'll be only half the number of battles we had in the first round!"

"WE ALREADY KNEW THAT!!!!!" shouted an obnoxious audience member as many others around him laughed, Moro fighting the urge to run into the crowd and beat said watcher senseless.

He then cleared his throat and said, "Due to this being the case, I figured I'd make things even more interesting!"

The crowd blinked, a tad confused by this as the man pressed a button. The crowd watched in shock as the ground opened up, another battle area taking its place. The new one had all kinds of rocks in it.

Moro grinned and explained, "This is the Earth Arena! But there's much more than that!"

He proceeded to show off a water arena, a volcano arena and even a cloud arena while even the bored members of the crowd had to admit that this was pretty amazing. Moro saw the excited looks and sighed thinking, 'I finally have them in the palm of my hands.'

"Effective tomorrow, these will be the arenas that each trainer must fight in," the professor stated, "This will either give one's Pokemon an advantage or disadvantage, depending on which Pokemon the trainer uses. As you can see, each arena is based off of a certain environment. However, the arena changes when a Pokemon is defeated, so don't get used to the one you start with."

Those watching had to admit, this did make things a tad more interesting. Anna's eyes sparkled, the girl truly amazed by this change while Izy wondered if this would be good for Jacob or not.

Sampson was actually feeling a tad uneasy about this. He gritted his teeth and thought, 'This might be bad for Spiritomb. He can't move around, so this gives the opponent an opportunity to sneak up on him.'

Nevertheless, it was late in the day and everyone was hungry for dinner. Jacob and his friends sat in the cafeteria, enjoying the free gourmet meal provided by the staff.

"Tomorrow's going to be tough," Izy said as Jacob sighed, "You're right. That new arena idea sounds complicated, and the only arenas like that my Pokemon have truly prepared for is a rock terrain, a forest and a pool of water."

"Don't worry about it," Anna stated with a warm smile, placing a hand on the boy's shoulder, "Just consider your Pokemon's strengths. What environment would each be best suited to?"

Jacob thought hard about this as Izy stated, "Let's not forget, you also need to consider who you're up against."

That was true. Jacob needed to all he could about his next opponent. Said opponent was a country girl named Sally. Considering how far she'd made it, she clearly must have been a good trainer.

However, when the group looked at her Pokemon, they started to doubt that she belonged in the tournament. All of her Pokemon were farm animal types, and not exactly the strongest of kinds either. The only true challenge they saw on her list was three-tailed bull known as Tauros.

"This battle's in the bag," Izy said with a grin as Harold said, "She makes me look like an expert."

Janette was once again sitting by herself with her Pokeballs spread out. She was in a meditative state as she held up three balls and decided to use the Pokemon in them. It was quite strange and rather intriguing. She always seemed to rely on pure instinct to decide her team and always came out on top. Just who was this Janette girl?

Izy looked at the clock and said, "Hey, I'm gonna go explore the town while the night is young. Who wants to join me?"

Anna and Harold gladly agreed to come along while Lucario looked over at Jacob who didn't seem as enthusiastic. Izy turned to Jacob and asked, "Are you coming?" as Jacob waved his hand at them saying, "You guys can go do what you want. I think I'll stay here."

Lucario nuzzled up to Jacob's leg as the boy petted the infant on the head and stated, "You can go with them too, Lucario. It's not like you always have to be with me."

Lucario's eyes sparkled at her hugged his owner before joining the others. Jacob wished he could have gone with them, but he had other plans at the moment.

The boy walked over to Janette who looked up from her Pokeballs and smiled at him asking, "To what do I owe the pleasure?"

"I just want to thank you again for last night," Jacob said, "If it hadn't been for you, I wouldn't have made it this far."

The girl simply chuckled and explained that she didn't need thanks but appreciated it all the same. Janette was truly a mystery. She was dressed like the kind of girl who attended a ball on a regular basis, and yet here she was partaking in Pokemon battles without even considering the fact that her dress could get dirty during such events. She didn't seem to really socialize with anyone, and yet she was willing to help out a complete stranger. She hardly planned out any of her battles but rather relied on her own instinct, and somehow this always resulted in an easy victory for her. She didn't even alter her strategies during battles. She always went with the Pokemon she had chosen before the battle, even if the opponent's Pokemon had an advantage over all of hers.

Jacob was even more surprised when Janette patted her hand on the seat next to her saying, "You can sit here and talk if you'd like."

The boy simply shrugged and sat down. What else was he going to do tonight anyway? After sitting down, the two talked for an hour and learned a lot about one-another, soon developing a friendship.

Janette told of how she grew up in a rich environment, which didn't really surprise Jacob all that much. He could tell by the gown she was wearing. She also explained that the only reason she wore her expensive clothes to battle was because it was family tradition to always wear the fanciest of clothes for a big event, no matter what that event was. When Jacob asked if she was worried about getting her clothes dirty, the girl simply shook her head and said that her family didn't mind. Jacob had to admit, the girl was lucky. Most rich parents would have gone ballistic over something like that.

Jacob proceeded to tell Janette a lot of things about him. He even told the whole story of how he'd met Lucario and defeated Giratina with his help. As ridiculous as it all sounded, Janette believed his story and took a great interest in the boy.

"So, how do you do it?" Jacob asked as Janette blinked asking, "Do what?"

"How do you always pick the perfect Pokemon to use before a battle?" the boy asked as Janette nodded saying, "It's just a feeling. I feel that these Pokemon could help me the most, so I choose them."

Jacob was impressed. It was clear that Janette had a lot of faith in her Pokemon. The boy understood as he also had a lot of trust in his Lucario even when the opponent had an advantage over him.

Meanwhile, Izy and Anna were in the local flower shop as Harold waited outside. Apparently, he found things like flower shops degrading for a male.

"I'm really glad Harold didn't enter," Izy said as Anna looked at her, blinked and asked, "How come?"

Lucario was sniffing the roses happily until he attempted to smell a Venus fly trap, the plant clamping onto his nose, the infant throwing a fit and flailing his arms about in an attempt to get the plant away from him.

"Anna, I want to have a girl-on-girl talk with you," Izy said feeling rather embarrassed, "If one of the guys heard me talking like this, they may look down on me."

Anna understood perfectly what the girl meant and placed a hand on Izy's shoulder, a warm smile on her face. Izy sighed and explained these recent feelings she was having for Jacob, how it just seemed to go beyond a simple friendship for her. She also didn't feel anything similar from Jacob but she couldn't tell him because it just wasn't like her to feel this way towards anyone. It would have felt awkward to just admit that she was having romantic thoughts about him.

Then again, part of the reason she'd never felt this way before was because Jacob was her first human friend. Even when growing up in an orphanage, she'd never been able to make friends.

The other reason she didn't want Harold there was clear when she started to let down tears and pressed herself up against Anna, crying into her shirt. Anna patted her back saying, "It's okay. These feelings are normal."

"BUT I DON'T WANNA BE NORMAL!!!!!" the girl cried as the shopkeeper blinked and asked, "What's wrong?"

Anna looked up at her and said, "It's nothing. My friend's just getting something out of her system."

Both knew that Izy was being disruptive, but this was a touching moment. Besides, it wasn't like there were any other customers in there and the shopkeeper seemed to just accept this sort of thing as if conversations like these always took place inside her shop.

Lucario finally managed to pry the fly trap off of his nose when he whacked it hard with a force palm and after doing so looked over at Izy with wide eyes. He was a tad frightened seeing Izy of all people cry. Even he had grown used to her acting tough during hard times. The fly trap shook the pain off of its head and looked over at the girl as well, and if it had eyes, they would have been wide too.

"My insides hurt," Izy sniffed as Anna rubbed her back saying, "You did the right thing getting it out of your system now before it could eat you up."

Meanwhile, Jacob and Janette were still talking. They had shared all kinds of information with one-another and by the end, they felt as if they'd known each other their whole lives.

Janette smiled and said, "Well, it's getting late. I'd better go prepare for my battle tomorrow. It was nice talking to you."

Jacob nodded and said, "I'll see you later, I guess."

Janette simply walked back to her room as Jacob's friends returned. Harold yawned saying, "You girls take a long time to look at flowers, you know that?"

Izy was once again acting like her old self, setting aside her feelings for Jacob. She only wanted to help him win, and to tell him what she had just told Anna would not only feel degrading for her, it would also distract Jacob. Rather than focusing on his next battle, he would start thinking of what a life with Izy would be like. The girl didn't want that kind of pressure put down on him.

Luckily, Anna had promised to keep it a secret and Lucario couldn't even talk, so at the very least, her feelings would remain hidden from the boy for the time being. With everything out of the way for now, they decided to simply spend one last hour training for tomorrow's battle while the night was still young. Right now, all Izy wanted to do was help Jacob win, not start a relationship.

All the while, Sampson sat in his room and fiddled with the Pokeball carrying his partner saying, "Don't take this too personally, but I'm afraid I can't use you in tomorrow's battle. I need to save you for the next round. You understand, right?"

The man sighed and placed his Pokeballs next to his bed. For once, he was actually going to sleep in the room assigned to him. It pained him not to use his mystery Pokemon in tomorrow's battle, but he knew there was no choice in the matter.

Everyone slept soundly that night and soon the next arrived. It was now time for the quarter-finals. There were only three rounds left before a winner was declared. This was truly an exciting time for everyone, especially with the new arenas installed.

Moro stood tall and proud shouting, "I hope everyone's well rested, because today's sure to be the most exciting one yet!"

A random audience member threw a can at the man's head as he growled while Nurse Boredom let out a low chuckle. What was up with all this abuse the professor was receiving. He was a professor. He should have been the most beloved man there. At least that's what he figured.

Sampson walked into the arena to receive many cheers from the crowd. After yesterday's performance, he had gotten a lot of respect from the crowd. His opponent, a boy by the name of Russel, entered as well receiving some applause. He had earned himself a bit of a reputation during the three previous battles.

"The first arena shall be the Earth Arena!" Moro announced as the floor opened up, revealing a hard ground with large rocks sticking up out of it. Sampson saw this as a perfect opportunity for his first Pokemon of choice as he hurled his ball into the ring, not saying a word.

Out of the ball emerged a cat-like creature. She had pink fur on her head that resembled a head dress and a yellow diamond in the center of her forehead. The rest of her body was covered in gray fur and she had razor-sharp claws on the ends of her hands. She was known as Weavile. Weavile was very agile and quick, so she could take advantage of this kind of surrounding.

Russel simply yawned and sent out his partner, a large blue bat with a round body and a gaping mouth that almost matched his body in size. With an evil look in his eyes, this was Golbat.

"Who needs a rock climber when you can fly over them?" The boy asked in a smug tone while Sampson frowned. This boy was clearly too egotistical to be worth talking to.

The battle started as Golbat took to the sky and Weavile used her claws to latch onto the side of one of the rocks. She proceeded to leap from rock to rock until she was at the very top of one, standing right behind Golbat who just couldn't seem to keep up with her speed.

"GOLBAT, SHE'S RIGHT BEHIND YOU!!!!" Russel snapped, but Golbat wasn't able to turn around in time as Weavile leapt swiftly onto his back, her claws surrounded by a dark aura while they were jabbed into the bat's flesh.

A bit of blood dripped down as Golbat flew towards a rock, ramming Weavile hard into it, the cat-like creature groaning in pain while she slid down the side of the big solid. Clearly, this battle was going to be tougher than Sampson had first thought.


	47. Chapter 47

Pokemon Quest

The crowd had to admit, they were once again in shock. Someone was actually matching blows with Sampson. Weavile sat on the ground, back against the large rock she'd been slammed into as Golbat flew towards her before latching his sharp fangs onto her face.

Blood trickled down the Pokemon's chin and forehead as Weavile groaned in pain, but suddenly, the pain she had taken in earlier seemed to become null and void. She growled, ignoring all of it while placing her hands against Golbat's body, prying it off of her before delivering a fierce uppercut to his chin.

This was her Revenge attack, and while it was true that fighting type moves did very little to flying types, its power did increase ten-fold when the user was attacked prior to its use. But that didn't seem to mean much as Russel placed his hands against his side and had a boastful smile.

Sampson glared at this as the obnoxious trainer gave a 'Gotcha' look saying, "That attack Golbat used earlier was Poison Fang. That Weavile of yours will now take in damage every time she moves."

Weavile growled, but Sampson had a look of confidence. It was as if a poison effect meant nothing to him. Unfortunately, that look of confidence turned to one of irritation when Golbat opened his mouth unleashing an onslaught of sound waves.

"You didn't think that was it, did you?" Russel asked with a grin as Weavile was caught in the sound waves, her eyes starting to swirl, "That was my Golbat's Supersonic. That means your Weavile is now confused."

Golbat proceeded to unleash an even louder sound hitting Weavile dead-on as Sampson gritted his teeth in frustration. This was known as Screech and what this did was lower the opponent's defense. Now Weavile was at a big disadvantage.

"Now let's try a nice Air Slash, shall we, Golbat?" Russel stated as the bat nodded and soared towards Weavile, but Sampson was not going to make it that easy for the smart-alek facing him.

He simply gave Weavile a specific look at the cat-like creature nodded, raising her claws for a scratch attack, waiting for Golbat to get as close in range as possible. However, Golbat was only mere seconds away when Weavile turned her claw around and jammed it into her shoulder, causing herself to bleed more as she cried out in pain.

The crowd couldn't believe what they were seeing. As Golbat's Air Slash hit Weavile hard, Sampson lost his cool and for the first time in a battle actually looked frightened. His eyes were wide open, his body trembling and his eyebrows lowering to the side closest to his ears. For the first time ever, Sampson had lost his confidence in his Pokemon.

Anna and Izy both stared at this, jaws dropped as Izy asked, "Is that the same Sampson we've become used to seeing?"

She was quite surprised to see that Anna had a smile on her face. The girl simply chuckled and said, "Sampson's going to get it."

Izy's eyes went wide at the sound of that. It wasn't all too often that Anna predicted the outcome of a battle, but when she did, it always came true. Was Sampson actually going to lose? This was a sight Izy wanted to see.

Despite the horrible beating, Weavile was still able to move, but just barely as Golbat soared in for another Air Slash. Sampson bit his lip and pulled out a Pokeball much to everyone's surprise and shouted, "WEAVILE, RETURN!!!!"

However, Golbat's eyes glowed before the beam from the ball could hit. As such, the beam was deflected back. This wasn't good. Everyone recognized that as Mean Look, a move that prevented a trainer from returning Pokemon until the battle was officially over.

Despite this, Weavile didn't feel nearly as worried as her master did. She was still able to stand tall as Golbat came closer and closer to her, his wing out and ready to strike.

However, the audience and Russel were in shock when Weavile managed to fight through her confusion, snapping completely out of it while her claws became a bright silver color. They proceeded to ram hard into the incoming wing and both attacks collided.

The crowd watched in silence as Weavile's Metal Claw and Golbat's Air Slash fought with one-another. It was a test of strength, claws against wing. Who would come out the victor of this standoff?

Russel's eyes went wide when he saw Weavile's claws going farther inward, blood coming from Golbat's wing. However, Golbat ignored this as he soared straight past Weavile. However, his wing did not hit her like many predicted it would. Instead, Weavile came out completely unharmed while Golbat lost his balance and tumbled into a rock.

All was silent as Russel's eyes were wide and twitching. He couldn't believe what he was seeing, but for some reason, there was a bloody wing lying on the ground right in front of Weavile, the cat-like Pokemon's claws drenched in the red liquid.

Soon, all became clear when Golbat lay unconscious, his wing no longer attached to his body and a bit of blood coming out of the side of him. Russel fell on his knees, trembling with fear as Anna had a shocked expression in her eyes, a look no one was used to seeing from her.

'Her prediction didn't come true,' Izy thought, 'How is that possible?'

All was silent in the crowd as even Sampson himself was in shock. He didn't want for things to get this out of hand.

"Weavile..." he said slowly, "you didn't kill that Golbat, did you, because we'll be disqualified if you did."

Weavile was unable to respond as her poison finally got the better of her and she passed out. Maybe this was what Anna meant when she said Sampson was going to get it.

Of course, no one could just assume Golbat was dead, so Nurse Boredom leapt out of the stands in an over-dramatic fashion while Moro rolled his eyes, no longer feeling the need to question this. The nurse approached Golbat and held his up, the bat breathing at a normal rate as Boredom let out a sigh.

"He's okay, everyone," she said as the crowd let out a sigh of relief, "He's just lost his wing, but he's not dead. However, I wouldn't recommend using him in any more battles until his wing grows back."

She then performing a flip back into her seat before resuming her unenthusiastic composure, Moro mumbling curses under his breath. Russel sighed with relief before returning his Golbat and placed the ball back in his pocket saying, "Well, now that that's settled, I still have a battle to win."

Sampson's look of worry was also gone as the battle resumed. Anna's prediction still had a chance to come true.

The arena opened up, replacing the Earth theme with a fire theme, the whole area covered in molten rock, artificial magma rising up from some mini volcanoes. Russel simply let a smug grin cross his face as he said, "This is perfect for me."

With that, he sent in the large fire dragon, Charizard. Once again, Russel had made a choice that gave him the upper hand. But Sampson was not going to lose this time. As such, he sent in his trusty Absol.

"I'm not so sure about this," Izy said with a look of doubt, "It looks to me like Sampson might win after all."

"No," Anna said shaking her head, "I can tell that he has no intention of using that mystery Pokemon of his, and without that, he can't win."

Izy had to admit that was fairly good logic. It was still creepy that Anna knew these things, but to see Sampson lose would have been a treat all the same.

The battle started with Charizard opening his mouth and unleashing a blast of flames known as Flamethrower. Absol simply leapt to the side sent a series of wind blades from the Scythe on the side of his head. Charizard dodged to the side, but due to his slowness on the ground, he was unable to avoid taking in damage to his shoulder.

Russel scowled and said, "Not bad, but my Charizard can fly circles around your Absol. Charizard, take to the skies."

That said, the dragon flew up into the air. Due to the hot environment, his fire attacks would be stronger, so Sampson needed to ensure that Absol wouldn't get hit.

However, things were looking uncertain when the dragon opened his mouth, unleashing a Smokescreen upon his opponent. Absol was trapped in the cloud of smoke, Charizard opening his mouth and sending a series of flames downward to where his opponent was.

This wasn't just any old fire attack, either. It was Fire Spin. The fire surrounded the smoke and, thanks to the extreme heat, expanded in size while Absol was none-the-wiser, Sampson lowering his eyebrows inward.

"Now fly around the ring of fire, Charizard," Russel said as the dragon nodded and flew towards the flames, soaring gracefully around it. The breeze emanating from his wings caused the fire ring to start spinning along with the smoke. After a few seconds, the flames grew bigger and closed in on one-another, the smoke only feeding the flames further. Absol still had no idea what was going on thanks to the smoke screen, but that soon changed when the ring of fire caved in covering Absol's entire body, the wolf howling in pain before passing out.

Sampson's eyes went wide as Absol lay on the ground for some time. Had the wolf actually lost? The battle hadn't even lasted two minutes and it was already over. To see this from Sampson was truly a shock to everyone.

'Looks like Anna was right,' Izy thought, 'If he doesn't use that mystery Pokemon of his, there's no way he can win.'

Sampson returned his Absol and looked down thinking, 'This boy may be smug, but he's a genius when it comes to Pokemon battles. I don't stand a chance.'

"You can still win," came a voice as Sampson looked around, everyone in the arena wondering what he was looking for.

"Are you looking for a way out?" Russel asked as he laughed and said, "You could just give up."

"Don't give up," came the voice again as Sampson's eyes went wide, him whispering, "Who are you?"

"I am your partner, Spiritomb," the voice said as Sampson started to twitch, the voice continuing, "I know you're just looking out for me, but let's face facts. Without me, you can't win."

Sampson thought he had gone crazy, but the voice was right. Looking at his options now, this seemed like the only logical one.

Sampson slowly pulled out his Pokeball as Anna's eyes went wide. Izy looked over at the girl and asked, "What's wrong?"

"He's going to use it..." Anna said, Izy also shocked. How could Anna have been wrong? When she predicted an outcome, it always happened no matter what.

However, just as Anna had said, Sampson sent in the Pokemon that had struck fear and uncertainty into the eyes of the crowd in all of his battles up to this point. It was the one Pokemon he just couldn't lose with.

When the arena changed into one with clouds and light gusts of wind, Russel simply returned his Charizard and sent in a Honchkrow, Aragon shouting, "HONCHKROWS RULE!!!" Sarah pulling on his ear and forcing him back in his seat.

Once again, Russel had made a good choice. This was a wind Arena. As such, flying based attacks were much more powerful here.

"It looks like I will be the one who single-handedly defeated that overpowered abomination," the boy said smugly while Sampson took a deep breath. His best bet was to be patient and wait for the right opportunity to strike.

"Honchkrow," Russel said, "hit that thing with Wing Attack."

The mystery Pokemon felt more than ready to counter this, but Honchkrow had other plans. The crow simply swooped to the side, quickly getting behind his target and soared toward the mystery Pokemon's back, his wings out.

But Sampson had a look of confidence as if his partner could easily respond to this. The audience gasped when the dark Pokemon's eyes and mouth vanished before appearing on the other side of his body. Some found this pretty cool, but the majority of audience members found it frightening.

Seconds before Honchkrow could land a blow, Russel's eyes went wide as Sampson's partner landed a quick Sucker Punch. While Honchkrow flew back a ways, trying to shake off the pain, the mystery Pokemon's eye started to swirl, a ray of dark energy covering the crow's body. This was confuse ray and it did as the name implied, it confused its opponent.

"That doesn't mean a thing to me," Russel said with a sigh, "Honchkrow, be a dear and with Dark Pulse."

However, just before doing so, Honchkrow spun his body around, smacking himself in the face with his own wing. Now it seemed the shoe was on the other foot as the mystery Pokemon used his own Dark Pulse, the large crow Pokemon falling to the ground in defeat.

Sampson sighed with relief, feeling confident once again as Russel shrugged, saying, "Whatever. I still have my Charizard."

However, those words meant nothing when the arena switched to a water theme. Russel's eyes went wide as he realized how bad this was. Water was a fire type's weakness, and with the water emitting a light mist from it, the damage dealt by fire attacks would be cut in half.

The smug boy simply looked down and sighed, "Alright, Sampson, you win," the crowd in shock while the boy left the arena, Sampson's victory made official.

Anna looked down as Izy patted the girl on the shoulder saying, "It's okay. You can't always be right."

'No, this isn't right at all,' Anna thought as he bit her lip, 'That man reversed his fate. He went against the outcome that was supposed to happen. But what was it that changed his mind? What made him choose Spiritomb in the end?'

Now Sampson was an even bigger threat in the girl's eyes than before, and that was saying a lot. It was already difficult trusting the man, but now things had gotten out of hand. Just who was Sampson really? Was he only here for the tournament or did he have other intentions?

Nevertheless, his battle was over and it was time for Jacob to go up against Sally. The crowd cheered while Izy and Anna applauded Jacob, the boy waving at the crowd. Sally also got some cheers from the crowd, but her support wasn't nearly as strong as Jacob's.

"Soon, them fans is gonna be mine," Sally said to the boy with a grin, "Your days in the spotlight are over, ya hear?"

Jacob rolled his eyes, but was this girl really as easy as she seemed? She had made it this far, after all.


	48. Chapter 48

Pokemon Quest

Jacob was feeling very confident about this battle. Sally seemed like nothing more than a bragger, someone who overestimated herself. Her team of Pokemon didn't necessarily look threatening, so in Jacob's mind, this would be a cinch.

The arena put in place was the forest arena. This didn't seem so bad for Jacob as he had fought in a forest-themed gym before.

Sally grinned sending in her first Pokemon, a small pony with a mane and tail made of fire known as Ponyta. Anna's eyes sparkled in the crowd at the sight of this. The girl found Ponyta especially to be a very pretty Pokemon, and why not? It was a pony after all.

Jacob saw this and needed to think quickly. He placed his hand against his chin and thought, 'The forest environment is perfect. All of my Pokemon can fight in one. Also, Floatzel has a huge advantage over Ponyta.'

That was more than enough for him to send Floatzel into the battle, the crowd cheering as the weasel Pokemon flexed for the crowd, grinning seductively. Sally smiled and said, "Y'all think ya can beat me with that just cuz it's a water type, eh? Well, type advantages ain't everything."

Jacob did know from experience that this was certainly true, but that wasn't going to stop him. Seeing as Sally's Ponyta was still a Ponyta, it couldn't have been all that powerful.

The second the battle started, Jacob gave Floatzel a command as the weasel nodded, grinned and sped towards the fiery pony, her body covered in water for Aqua Jet. Sally noticed Ponyta's uneasy look at the sight of that and smiled saying, "Now, y'all just stand there and take it, ya hear?"

Ponyta put on a more serious expression and nodded while Jacob just blinked. He knew Sally was old-fashioned, but he didn't think for a minute that country-folk could be this rash.

Nevertheless, Ponyta took in the blow at full force, flying into a tree while the crowd cheered for Jacob's Floatzel. Jacob was still in shock at how easy the girl was making this for him. Ponyta was weak against water attacks. To not even attempt to dodge or counter such a move seemed stupid to the boy.

"So, how strong is he, Ponyta?" the country girl asked as the pony rose to her feet, shook the pain off of her head and lifted up her hoof, dangling it in a 'just okay' sort of motion.

"Um... what does that mean?" Jacob asked as Sally laughed saying, "Y'all didn't think I was really lettin ya walk all over my dear sweet Ponyta, did you? Why, she was jus sizing the girl up."

Izy tilted her head to the side, feeling rather confused while Jacob scratched his head. Such a thing seemed like a big risk, especially against a water type, but what really confused him was that Ponyta didn't seem the least bit impressed by the attack despite it being a powerful blow, her weakness and used by a Pokemon's second form.

Then before Jacob could even blink again, Sally nodded at Ponyta, the small horse-like creature nodding back and charging towards Floatzel for a take-down attack. Now, normally, this wouldn't have been as fast as something like a tackle attack, but strangely enough, Ponyta was moving at such a fast speed, even fast for Ponyta standards, that Floatzel was unable to respond, taking a heavy blow to the chest and flying into a tree, head ramming hard into said tree before she slid down the side of it, falling into a pond in front of the tree.

Jacob's eyes went wide at the sight of that. It didn't even seem as if Ponyta had taken in recoil damage from the attack, let alone the fact that it seemed even more powerful than it was known to be, and that was saying something when considering the fact that Take Down was already a fairly powerful move.

However, Ponyta had made one fatal flaw, and when Jacob realized it, he was ready to take full advantage of it saying, "Well, it seems as if Floatzel isn't going to leave that pond. I guess your Ponyta will have to go in there and finish her for good."

Izy and Anna were both rather uncertain about Jacob's strategy here. On one hand, it was smart to try to lure Ponyta into the water, especially since Floatzel could breathe under the liquid, but it was also risky to just assume that Sally would fall for it.

"Alright," Sally said with a fold of her arms and grin on her face, "Ponyta, go and get that Floatzel out, ya hear?"

Izy, Anna, Lucario and Jacob all stood with wide eyes. Even Jacob hadn't expected that to work. Nevertheless, he said nothing as Ponyta starting running towards the pond.

However, instead of diving into the water, the pony opened her mouth, unleashing a flame in the shape of the kanji for fire. This was even more confusing. There was no way fire could effect water.

However, this thought was proven wrong as the flames hit the water, bubbles starting to rise up from it. Sally simply grinned wickedly while Jacob's eyes went wide, the boy now speechless. Had that girl just boiled the water?

The answer soon became clear as Floatzel let out a cry of pain, leaping out of the water, steam coming from her body as she deliberately fell on her back, rolling around in pain. How was such a thing even possible? Well, nevertheless, the strategy had worked and Floatzel was unable to respond as Ponyta stomped on the weasel with her front hooves.

All was silent as Floatzel simply lay there, unable to move as Ponyta ran over to her owner, Sally stroking her mane. See, Ponyta had the power to turn off the heat in her mane when she felt comfortable, so that's why it didn't hurt to touch her fiery mane.

Jacob returned Floatzel, looking down with shame as Sally smiled and said, "Y'all thought I was too stupid to come up with a good strategy, didn't ya? Jus cuz I'm from the country doesn't mean I'm dumb. We country folk teach ourselves ta be resourceful, unlike lazy city folk who only work when they have to."

"For one thing, I'm not from a city," Jacob remarked, "I'm from a town. Secondly, I don't judge anyone by how they look. That's just biased."

"Thank ya," Sally said with a smile, her hands behind her back as the boy continued, "I'm just surprised that your Ponyta is so strong for its level."

The crowd listened with interest except of course for Nurse Boredom who just wished they'd stop talking and get back to the action. Everyone else wanted to know where this power came from too.

"Ya see," Sally said, pulling out a Pokedex, "Ponyta could easily be a Rapidash by now, but she ain't."

"Why is that?" Jacob asked, "And what does that have to do with an electronic encyclopedia?"

Sally grinned and replied, "I thought you'd never ask. See, every Pokedex comes with a button simply labeled the B button."

She pointed to the button with the letter B on it while the audience looked rather startled. Many had certainly seen this B button before, but they always thought of it as nothing more than a decoration. They had no idea what the B button actually did.

'How interesting,' Moro thought, 'The girl actually uses it. No one's ever used that feature before.'

The man chuckled to himself, quite satisfied by the fact that his addition to the Pokedex actually worked, but it was still unknown to others what it did. Even the gym leaders were unaware of its abilities.

"So, what exactly does that B button do?" Jacob asked as Sally's grin grew wider, the girl explaining, "See, I didn't want my Pokemon to evolve. They're jus too cute. So I use this B button here. See, if you press it right before a Pokemon evolves, it sends out a signal canceling the evolution, so the Pokemon never evolves."

Jacob's eyes sparkled at the sound of this. This was truly fascinating. Even Anna was quite enthralled with this, but Izy just folded her arms thinking, 'How is that a good thing?'

The rest of the crowd had mixed feelings about the feature as well. Some thought it good for keeping a Pokemon as cute as it could possibly be, however, others thought it stupid as it meant the Pokemon couldn't learn their absolute best attacks or gain a stronger body. However, it was also good at deceiving an opponent. After all, this feature had tricked Jacob into thinking Ponyta was a weakling with little experience.

'I need to be careful,' Jacob thought with a grimace, 'What if her other Pokemon are like this too?'

Before he could think of that, the arena had been switched with light themed one. Bright sunlight surrounded the area. Jacob knew just who to use for this portion. The boy grinned as he whipped out a Pokeball sending in his trusty Cacturne.

"Interesting choice," Sally said, tilting her head to the side as Jacob explained, "With all of this sunlight, Cacturne will gain extra strength from the Vitamin D provided."

Izy was a bit skeptical about this, and even Anna felt uncertain. While that was good logic, Cacturne was also weak against fire types.

"Cacturne, before doing anything, lay down a row of spikes!" Jacob shouted as the cactus nodded, shooting spikes across the ground. Sally was impressed. This meant that any other Pokemon she chose would be damaged the second she sent them into the arena.

She simply grinned at Ponyta who nodded and charged towards Cacturne, her body covered in flames. Clearly, she was setting up for Flare Blitz. However, Jacob felt very confident about this as he said, "Cacturne, counter with Needle Arm."

Everyone stared in shock. Izy thought that move was rash, Anna found it interesting, Lucario looked at his master like he was crazy and everyone else thought the boy had lost his mind. This strategy would only hurt Cacturne's arm. What was Jacob thinking?

Despite that, Cacturne's arm rammed hard into the incoming pony's face while Jacob grinned, the pony flying into a wall, even Sally in total shock. Sure, Cacturne's caught flame as predicted, and the sunlight only made it stronger, but Cacturne managed to roll the flame out quickly enough while Ponyta just lay on the ground against the wall, unable to get up.

Sally sighed and returned the pony before grinning at Jacob saying, "What you did back there was certainly brave, ya know that?"

"To be honest," Jacob said with a grin, "I wasn't completely sure that the sunlight would give Cacturne that much of an advantage."

Izy slapped her forehead, shaking her head and let out a low chuckle. She couldn't believe that such a rash decision had worked. But none the less, the battle was far from over.

Sally smiled and said, "I reckon that's the best you're gonna do," before sending in a two-headed kiwi bird known as Doduo.

As soon as the kiwi emerged, he felt a sharp pain in his foot as he danced around, trying to ignore the pain with all his might. At least the spike trap had worked.

Despite having no wings, Doduo was a flying type, and with the arena being replaced by a wrestling ring, clearly meant for fighting types, Jacob knew that had to return Cacturne to his ball. He wasn't going to take another risk like that again. Using Cacturne against his own weakness was too risky as it was.

With that, he smiled at his partner who nodded and ran into the ring, the infant punching his fists forward showing off his strength before Jacob sighed, "This isn't a wrestling match, Lucario."

Lucario blinked before letting down a sweat drop, blushing from embarrassment. Sally chuckled and said, "That Lucario of yours is cute."

"Well, he was only born a little over a week ago," the boy said as the crowd gasped in shock. Even those who didn't seem to care were amazed that an infant could show such a display of power in battle.

With that out of the way, it was time for the battle to resume. Lucario needed to be careful. While he was fast, Doduo was known to be much faster, so the infant needed to think carefully about his moves.

Jacob thought hard and figured the best move to start with would be a quick attack, so he told Lucario to do just that as the infant nodded, rushing towards Doduo while Sally gave Doduo a nod, the bird charging towards his target as well. Lucario quick attack hit hard, his elbow ramming into Doduo's face, but for some strange reason, Doduo hadn't felt any pain, but instead, the sound of blood squirting was heard.

Jacob's eyes went wide as Lucario backed away from Doduo, letting down tears while his elbow started to bleed. Sally's eyes widened as she gasped, "IS THE LITTLE ONE OKAY!?"

Doduo looked at his master with fear in his eyes as Sally glared saying, "I don told you ta use your own Quick Attack, not Drill Peck!"

Lucario sniffed as Nurse Boredom sighed, "He's okay, just a little wounded. As if this hasn't happened in previous battles already. Can we get back to the action already?"

Moro simply glared at the woman, but she did have a point. Sevanne's Blaziken had taken in a number of cuts but ended up okay. Russel's Golbat lost a wing and ended up fine. Lucario had also taken in blows like this before.

"Lucario, I know it hurts," Jacob said with concern in his eyes, "If you don't feel you can continue, I'll switch you with Cacturne so you can rest."

Izy sighed with relief at the sound of that. It sounded like a good idea. Even Sally had to admit, she was impressed by this decision as it certainly showed that Jacob cared for his partner.

However, Lucario shook his head and turned back to the battle, folding his arms and ignoring the pain. Jacob smiled and said, "I knew a wound like that wouldn't get you of all partners to give up."

Sally had to admit, this display was actually quite touching. She then proceeded to laugh saying, "Wow, y'all very interesting figures, ya know that?"

With that, the battle commenced. Izy noticed that Anna was neither smiling nor neutral. What was up with that?

She placed a hand on Anna's shoulder and said, "Anna, don't be so down in the dumps. So one of your predictions was wrong. It's not a big deal."

Anna sighed and looked up with a smile saying, "Well, I believe Lucario could win this, but maybe it's time to stop relying on my own intuition and see how things will turn out."

Doduo rushed towards Lucario as Lucario went in for another Quick Attack. He managed to elbow the kiwi hard in the chest, but Doduo responded with a series of pecks simply known as Fury Attack. After taking in a few blows, Lucario leapt back and cupped his hands together, preparing an aura sphere.

The crowd cheered was Lucario unleashed the orb of light energy, ignoring the pain in his elbow and knocked out Doduo for good. Sally's eyes were wide not just with shock but with admiration. She hadn't expected Jacob to win so easily.

"Well, you've been a very fine opponent," Sally said, folding her arms with a grin, "But this is where you lose."

With that, she sent in her Tauros. The bull stood there, tall and proud, showing off his bulk. As the ring was replaced by an electric-themed one, lighting rods set up all around it and releasing an electric current around the area, Jacob put on a serious expression. No one knew just how powerful this Tauros would be, and by Sally's expression, it was clear that this was her strongest ally.


	49. Chapter 49

Pokemon Quest

The battle began with Tauros rushing towards Lucario with his horns out. Jacob simply gave a command as Lucario leapt to the side, Tauros charging past the infant and running head-first into the electric fence surrounding the stage, his body taking in a massive shock.

Jacob blinked and thought, 'I can't believe that worked,' as Tauros started to falter, his eyes spinning now. Up to this point, Sally had proven herself to be a serious threat, but that was just pathetic.

Sally's eyes went wide as she shouted, "Tauros, y'all know better than that! Don't ever let me catch you falling for such an obvious trap again, ya hear!?"

Tauros turned to his master with fear in his eyes as he gulped hard, Jacob confused. If Tauros was this unreliable, why had Sally chosen him last? Why not someone else? It wasn't as if Tauros could do much against a Lucario anyway. His weakness was fighting type moves.

Tauros shook the pain off of his body before letting out a battle cry, charging towards Lucario again. Jacob was shocked to see the same strategy used twice, but he had to take advantage of this. As such, Lucario once again leapt to the side, dodging the incoming attack, however, Tauros was not going to run into the electricity again. He instead rose his front legs up and slammed them again the ground, slowly grinding to a halt and causing the entire arena to vibrate.

Jacob tried his best to maintain his balance as Lucario ended up taking in heavy damage from the Earthquake. The infant was flat on his back while Tauros just stood there blinking while Sally rose her arms in the air shouting, "YEEHAW!!!! That's what I'm talkin bout! Now show him just what you're capable of!"

Tauros snapped out of his shocked state and resumed charging towards Lucario, but that shock he had put himself in seemed to have given Lucario more than enough time to recover, the infant rising back to his feet and cupping his hands together, a ball of energy forming. Izy cheered when Lucario unleashed his aura sphere directly into Tauros' face, the bull's running coming to a stop as he flew back-first into the electric fence, electricity running through his veins.

As the bull cried loud in pain, Sally just stared with her eyes wide before letting out a sigh and shaking her head. She simply turned her back to the bull who seemed to be still barely standing and said, "Ya know, Tauros, I chose you last because I thought you were my best ally."

Tauros turned to her as Jacob blinked. The boy was now confused. Was Sally giving up?

"You've given me good reasons ta trust ya, Tauros," the girl proceeded to say, "but right now, all I see is a calf, not a bull."

Tauros' eyes went wide as he started to sniff, letting down tears. He had let down his master. What was a poor bull to do?

Jacob, however, was full of anger now. Up to this point, he had actually admired Sally's fighting spirit. However, seeing her talk down upon her partner just because he wasn't performing as well as she'd wanted him to... Jacob couldn't respect a person who didn't trust her own Pokemon. Sure, Jacob's Pokemon had let him down before plenty of times. But no matter how often they lost, he always had faith in them. For example, Lucario currently had a big open wound in his elbow and yet he still trusted the infant to continue the battle. Why? Because he trusted Lucario like a brother.

Izy, however, simply sighed with relief saying, "It looks like Jacob's gonna win this," looking over at Anna who simply nodded in agreement. The girl sighed and thought, 'That's right. She's not predicting outcomes anymore.'

Sally reached for her Pokeball as Jacob shouted, "WHAT KIND OF TRAINER ARE YOU!!!!??"

The entire arena gasped at the sound of this as Sally turned back to the arena asking, "What do you mean?"

"You're giving up hope just because Tauros took in a bit of damage!?" Jacob snapped, "By the look of it, Tauros can still fight! He may be a little weak, but it's not like he's lost yet!"

Sally tilted her head to the side and said, "I dun follow," as Jacob pinched his forehead angrily saying, "You can't lose hope until you know Tauros can't battle anymore. If he can still fight, then you haven't lost the battle yet."

Upon hearing these words, Tauros' tears vanished as he let out a battle cry, rising back up to his feet as if all previous damage had meant nothing. He then turned to Sally who let out a weak smile saying, "Y'all one smart cookie, Jacob. I'm sorry, Tauros. I jumped to assumptions."

Izy simply slapped her forehead before banging her head against the guard rail shouting, "WHY COULDN'T HE JUST LET HER GIVE UP!!!!??" as Anna smiled saying, "Jacob's too nice for that."

Kevin simply smiled saying, "This kid truly amazes me," while Miles groaned, "He needs to know when to keep his trap shut."

Lucario turned to Jacob who said, "Hey, it's not like we can't still win, Lucario. Now that Tauros has more confidence, it'll feel more worth it in the end."

Tauros once again charged toward the infant letting out a loud battle cry when Lucario sent another Aura Sphere to the bull's face. Unlike before, Tauros simply lowered his horn. The sphere seemed to be big enough to touch them as it stopped upon doing so, vanishing. Everyone's eyes went wide. It seemed as if the bull's horns had destroyed the Aura Sphere.

Normally, Tauros' horns wouldn't have been able to do that, however, right now, Tauros was so full of confidence that he was somehow able to defy that logic. And sure enough, Lucario, unable to respond due to the shock of it all, took the horns hard to his shoulders, blood flying out of them as he went flying into the electric fence, electricity coursing through his entire body while the crowd started to cheer for the bull.

Tauros looked back and forth at all the people cheering for him as he let down a tear of joy. Sally clapped happily pumping her fists in the air shouting, "Y'all be amazin, Tauros!"

Jacob's eyes went wide as he gulped thinking, 'Okay, I think I gave him a little too much confidence,' while Lucario slowly rose back to his feet, breathing heavily.

"Are you okay, Lucario?" the boy asked as the infant looked at him and weakly gave him thumbs up, the boy shaking his head and saying, "Sorry, I guess I took things too far, but hey, you can still win."

Lucario nodded and turned back to Tauros, doing his best to remain focused. There was no way he was going to allow Tauros to beat him, confidence boost or not.

Sally saw the infant up an about as she grimaced shouting, "Tauros, hit him with anotha horn attack!"

Tauros nodded as he rushed towards Lucario, but Jacob needed to think. Sure, Lucario could easily dodge to the side. His back was too close to the electric fence, which Sally had overlooked, so Tauros wouldn't have been able to dodge it. However, there was a flaw in this strategy. Lucario may have been too weak to dodge this. He could duck under Tauros' horns, but the chances were high that the infant would take in damage at the same time.

Then he realized that he had no other options and said, "Lucario, hit him with Aura Storm."

The infant nodded as he cupped his hands together, a force flowing within them. Sally grinned and said, "Y'all must be out of ideas ta try that again."

As such, Tauros continued his assault. He was only a few seconds away, but when Lucario threw his arms forward, nothing came out. Jacob just stood there in shock as the infant took in the fierce Horn Attack.

Lucario cried out in pain as his back pressed up against the electricity, however, Tauros didn't look so good either. His horns had touched the fence as well, and since they were connected to his body, he took in damage as well, both passing out.

All was silent as Moro examined the two saying, "Well, it would seem both are unconscious, so both Pokemon lose."

The crowd cheered as Izy breathed a sigh of relief, Sally returning her Tauros. Since Jacob's Cacturne hadn't yet been defeated, he had emerged the winner of the battle. However, he wasn't at all thrilled as his mind was elsewhere.

He walked over to Lucario and picked the infant up saying, "Cheer up. I'll take you to the nurse," Lucario still out cold.

While the other battles took place, Jacob, Izy and Anna waited outside the nurse's office. Lucario had taken in some serious damage during that battle, and most of it was because of a Tauros. Jacob felt a bit responsible for that as he was the one who gave Tauros confidence, however, that wasn't the main thing on his mind right now.

Now, you're probably wondering how Lucario could be getting treatment when Nurse Boredom was spectating the battles? Luckily, another nurse, Nurse Optimism, had arrived to take Boredom's place when she was off duty.

The nurse poked her head out, tears in her eyes as she said, "Don't you worry, little boy. Your Lucario will be okay!"

Izy simply narrowed her eyes and said, "Melodramatic much?" while Jacob still looked down, Anna placing a hand on his shoulder saying, "Don't worry, you did great out there."

"It's not that," Jacob sighed, "It's just that Lucario wasn't able to use Aura Storm. Why is that?"

Anna simply thought hard about this but couldn't come up with an answer. Perhaps Aura Storm was just a one-time wonder, something that would never happen again.

"Don't worry about it," Izy said, patting the boy on the shoulder, "It's not like you need Aura Storm. I'm sure you can win without it."

Jacob nodded and replaced his worried look with a smile. The girl was right. He had done great without that attack. It wasn't like he absolutely needed it.

However, there was one thing to worry about. His opponent for the semi-finals was Sampson, and up to this point, he had proven himself invincible.

Anna let out a sigh before looking Jacob in the eyes and saying, "Jacob, I need to tell you something important."

Janette had finished her battle with a boy named Peter at this very moment as the boy, who dressed like an opera singer, simply looked down at his defeated Chatot and sang, "Chatot, sweet Chatot, are you okay? I need you to light my way!"

Jacob had just heard some strange news from Anna. The girl had just told the boy about Sampson's mystery Pokemon, how his name was Spiritomb. She had also explained the history behind Spiritomb, how he had been sealed away for evil acts.

"So that's the only one of its kind?" Jacob asked as Anna nodded, Jacob's eyes sparkling as he said, "I'm going up against a one-of-a-kind Pokemon!"

Izy smacked him on the back of the head and said, "Stay focused. This isn't your typical everyday opponent, here."

Jacob rubbed his head with a nervous smile on his face while Anna proceeded to explain, "Spiritomb has no weakness, so you'll have to be careful."

Jacob and Izy's eyes went wide at the sound of this. How could Jacob stand a chance against this creature? As if his strange ability to counter almost anything that came at him wasn't bad enough, Spiritomb had the advantage of possessing no weaknesses. He had to rely on what could at least harm Spiritomb.

"Does he have any other advantages besides an immunity to psychic, fighting and normal moves?" Izy asked while Jacob narrowed his eyes, disappointed in himself for not asking that first.

Anna thought about this and said, "Poison attacks only deal half damage to him, but everything else is fine."

Jacob sighed with relief. This just meant Cacturne wouldn't be needed. Nothing wrong with that. However, he'd failed to take Sampson's other Pokemon into consideration. They may have been defeated over the past unlike his Spiritomb, but they were still a threat. That Absol of his had proven to be a nuisance and after seeing a Golbat's wing sliced off, Jacob had a good reason to worry about the man's Weavile. But what of his other allies? What else did Sampson have?

Anna sighed and said, "I don't know why, but for some strange reason, no other Pokemon shows up in his profile."

Izy simply blinked and asked, "How is that possible?"

Unfortunately, even Anna had no answer to this one, but Jacob at least had enough information about Spiritomb. He needed to win at all cost, and when it all came down to it, Spiritomb was the one to worry about the most.

Sampson, all the while, sat outside the building in his usual spot and pulled out a Pokeball saying, "I'm sorry I had to use you in that battle, but I had no choice in the matter. I needed to win at all cost."

"Why are you apologizing?" a voice said as the man cringed. There it was again. Somehow, Spiritomb was communicating with him from the Pokeball. But how was that possible.

"How are you talking to me?" the man asked as the voice ignored his question saying, "If I'm not mistaken, I told you to send me into that battle, did I not?"

Sampson had to admit, the spirit had a point. That was exactly what happened. Sampson would have lost had he not sent Spiritomb into the battle.

'I don't know how you're talking to me,' he thought as he placed the ball in his pocket, 'but that doesn't matter right now. What matters is that I win that gold medal.'


	50. Chapter 50

Pokemon Quest

While everyone in the stadium slept that night, Jacob lay awake in bed, sighing. He was going up against a very powerful opponent tomorrow. Would he be ready for this?

He looked at Lucario, who was sound asleep on a carpet next to the bed and thought, 'I'm sorry, Lucario, but I just can't use you tomorrow.'

Yes, Jacob had it all planned out. He figured that with Spiritomb being immune to fighting type moves, it may have been best to go with Manectric, Infernape and Floatzel, all of which relied on elements for battles. Despite this, he still didn't have much confidence. Sampson had proven himself to be a very dangerous adversary. So far, his Pokemon had been the only ones to draw a lot of blood from an opponent. And after seeing what had happened to Russel's Golbat, the boy was even more worried.

Jacob let out a sigh and closed his eyes. Perhaps sleep would do him some good. Tomorrow was, after all, a big day for him.

And after the night passed, the stadium was filled with spectators, all there to watch the semi-finals take place. Of course, the main battle everyone was looking forward to was Jacob's battle with Sampson, the very first battle.

Moro stood on a stage while the crowd glared at him, the man clearing his throat and saying, "I'm not going to let you people intimidate me any longer! I spent 6 hours preparing this speech, and I'm going to give it!"

Some of the obnoxious members of the crowd threw empty coffee cups at the man, but luckily, he had come equipped with a garbage pale lid. He didn't hesitate for a minute, lifting up the lid to protect himself from the onslaught of recyclable trash.

Nurse Boredom simply yawned and hurled her own coffee cup at the back of the professor's head, hitting him with it successful as, after all, his back was unprotected. What made it even worse for the man was that this cup wasn't empty.

The man stood there silent for a few seconds before shouting, "IT BURNS!!!!!!!!" flailing his arms around until the heat finally died down, breathing heavily afterwords.

"NEVER do that again!" he snapped as the nurse smiled weakly, Moro's eyes narrowing while the audience laughed and applauded Nurse Boredom.

As the audience's noise died down, the professor let out a sigh and said, "People, you have seen many of the best compete. Some battles were a disappointment while others have been very exciting. Now we are down to the semi-finals, the last 4 contestants and the last 3 battles, 2 of which take place today."

The audience sighed as one shouted, "GET TO THE POINT!!!!"

Moro cleared his throat, ignoring that obnoxious statement and proceeded to say, "We have seen great talent shown by these young individuals, but as you know, only one will truly come out the winner. The first semi-finalist is Sampson. No one knows where he came from or who this mysterious Pokemon who has helped him win every battle is, but he has truly proven himself more than worthy of being here, even if some of his methods have been a tad unorthodox."

The audience nodded, even the bored ones willing to agree with that as Moro added, "At first, he didn't have much respect. Even I didn't much trust him. But when he showed honor to Sevanne, it was clear that he had a good heart and despite some desperate measures, he is a man to be admired."

The crowd simply sighed again, knowing Moro was going to do the same thing for every other semi-finalist. However, Moro, as he'd explained, spent a long time preparing this speech, so they knew they had to listen.

"The next semi-finalist is Jacob," the professor stated, "He has actually done quite a lot over the past. He single-handedly defeated Miles, a gym leader who took a temporary absence to work for Team Advent. Even though it's unlikely, some of us still like to believe it was this boy who changed Miles' ways and convinced him to rejoin the side of good."

"I get no respect from these people anymore," Derk muttered with a grimace.

"Not only has he done that, but he also made his way out of the toughest of predicaments, even getting that Lucario of his to use an undiscovered attack," the professor continued as Izy let down a sweat drop thinking, 'He knows that wasn't Jacob's doing, right?'

The professor continued to tell of Janette's opponent, a girl named Heather, but that was of no importance, neither to the crowd nor to the main story. Then he proceeded to say, "Our last semi-finalist is Janette. Despite being brought up by a rich family and taught to act like lady-like, she comes to us in the form of a Pokemon trainer and has shown us remarkable skill. No one knows how she does it, but somehow, she always seemed to win even when her choice of Pokemon doesn't make much sense.

And with that, the professor's speech was at a close. The crowd cheered wildly, some even whistling, Moro grinned proudly.

Nurse Boredom rolled her eyes and said in a drowsy tone, "They're not cheering for you. They're cheering because the speech is over."

Moro's eye twitched until he heard an obnoxious audience member shout, "WAY TO END A BORING SPEECH, MAN!!!!!" as the professor looked down in shame, simply taking his seat.

And so, Sampson entered the arena while the crowd broke out into heavy cheering. The man simply let out a sigh and thought, 'Alright, Spiritomb, I know I won't need you for this one.'

Jacob followed suit, walking to his side of the arena while the crowd cheered almost as hard. Jacob may have had respect, but Sampson had a lot more. Izy and Anna stood in the crowd cheering for their friend while Harold held up a sign that said 'Jacob Rules'.

Sampson proceeded to do something very unexpected. The crowd's eyes went wide, the area silent as the man slowly walked over to Jacob and held out his hand. It took a few seconds for the boy to realize what the man meant as he held out his own hand, the two shaking.

"Best of luck to you," Sampson said with a compassionate look as he let go and headed back to his side, the crowd cheering while Moro exclaimed, "What a nice person! Sampson has just shown us good sportsmanship! We could all learn a thing or two from him!"

"Maybe he's not such a bad guy after all," Harold said with a shrug of his shoulders. However, Anna and Izy were both suspicious. Sure, Sampson had shown a friendly side to him when he battles Sevanne, but there was just something about him that seemed shady. It was like he was hiding something.

However, Jacob was a bit mixed about this. On one hand, it was clear that Sampson must have respected him as the man had explained that he only talked to good trainers during battle. However, there was the possibility of this being an act.

While Sampson walked towards his side, he heard a voice say, "Use me first! Don't let him get the upper hand!"

Sampson grimaced and whispered, "Shut up. I refuse to let him kill you, Spiritomb."

Upon walking to his side, Sampson pulled out a Pokeball and hurled it into the arena. Out of it appeared an odd monkey-like creature. It had long white hair that covered its face much like the fur of a baboon, but rather than covering the entire body, it hung down the back of his head like hair. He also had a long needle-shaped nose and leaves where his hands should have been. This was Shiftry.

Jacob grinned, knowing exactly who to use for this. Luckily, this didn't ruin his plan in any way possible. With that, he pulled out his own Pokeball shouting, "Go get him, Infernape!" the monkey standing tall and proud while the audience cheered. To see Infernape again was certainly a treat in their eyes.

Sampson grimaced, realizing that this wasn't a good sign, but nevertheless, he refused to let it get to him. He had to win this battle no matter what happened.

Before Infernape could do a thing, Shiftry threw his leaf hands forward, unleashing a torrent of leaves, which sent the monkey flying into a wall while being pelted with hard, sharp leaves, cuts also forming on her body. This was an attack known as Leaf Storm, one of the most powerful grass type moves in existence.

Jacob's eyes went wide as the sight of this, but he breathed a sigh of relief when Infernape covered her body in flames, burning the leaves off of her. He knew there was no way a grass type move could defeat his fire type Pokemon.

As Infernape charged at the tree monkey, Shiftry simply narrowed his eyes before leaping to the side, Infernape running past him. However, Infernape was fast and nimble, being a monkey and all that, and there was no way she'd let her opponent dodge her that easily. As such she shifted her body and leapt towards him.

However, Shiftry saw the attack coming and leapt to the side again, and this went on for well over a minute, Infernape's body still covered in fire while Shiftry dodged each and every move.

However, Shiftry was starting to breathe rather heavily while Infernape still seemed to be full of energy. Jacob grinned and shouted, "That's it, Infernape! You've got him on the ropes now! Keep it up!"

Sampson's eyes went wide when soon enough, Shiftry took the fierce Flare Blitz to the back. This attack was more than enough to knock the tree baboon out, the Pokemon unable to move.

Sampson sighed and returned his partner thinking, 'Damn. That Infernape of his is more of a threat than I first thought.'

Izy cheered, pumping her fist in the air shouting, "That was a close one!"

Anna sighed and said, "Don't be too cocky. We've seen other opponents get this far before. Don't forget, Jacob hasn't won the battle yet."

However, Jacob simply smiled and hugged his Infernape saying, "Great job, Infernape! We may actually win this battle!"

Sampson sighed, pulling out another ball and hurled it into the arena, this time a wolf appearing. It wasn't his Absol but a different wolf. This one had black fur along with a red muzzle around her mouth. She also had bones across her back and a skull necklace along with ankle bracelets also made of bone. And to top off all that and her pair of bull horns, her tail was in a shape similar to what many believed the devil's tail looked like, a spearhead shape on the end of it and everything. This Pokemon was known as Houndoom.

Jacob was a tad confused by this move. Why would Sampson try fire with fire? He was smarter than that, wasn't he?

Nevertheless, the boy knew he had something better to use against the wolf, so he returned his Infernape and replaced her with Floatzel.

Sampson frowned and thought, 'I should have seen that coming,' as he sighed and simply pointed at Houndoom, the canine nodding before opening her mouth, flames spewing out.

Jacob grinned, seeing a perfect opportunity and said, "Alright, Floatzel, counter with Water Gun!"

The weasel nodded and sent a water gun towards the flamethrower. Despite having a power advantage over water gun, it took a lot for fire to overpower water. As such, Houndoom took in a fierce blow to the face and backed up a bit, planting her feet hard against the ground to avoid going too far back.

Izy threw her fist forward with a grin saying, "It looks like Jacob's definitely gonna win this one!" however, Anna wasn't so certain. Sampson didn't even look worried after his Houndoom succumbed to the water gun.

The wolf simply shook off the pain and ran towards her opponent. Jacob was very surprised by this rather rash action, but this was certainly something to take advantage of.

"Alright, Floatzel, hit him with Aqua Jet!" the boy barked as Floatzel nodded, her body soon covered in water as she sped towards the incoming wolf. However, rather than continuing the assault, Houndoom froze on the spot. She didn't even skid forward a little bit like most would. She simply came to a complete stop with little to no effort. After doing so, she unleashed another flamethrower, this one colliding with Floatzel, however, the attack had once again proven useless as all the fire did was turn into steam on contact.

'This is strange,' Jacob thought with a grimace, 'Sampson's making this too easy. What's he planning?'

Soon enough, Floatzel's entire body was covered in a cloud of steam. Sampson grinned and said, "Perfect," while Floatzel emerged from the steam cloud, coughing as she lost focus, falling to the ground, her water shield now gone. With that, Houndoom leapt atop Floatzel's back and bit hard into her shoulder, electricity coursing through her veins.

"Oh, I get it," Izy said as Anna and Harold both looked at her asking, "Get what?"

"The reason he had Houndoom use flamethrower was because Sampson knew that water and fire combined to create steam," the girl explained while the others still looked confused, "See, the flamethrower turned the water surrounding Floatzel's body into steam. As such, Floatzel lost her focus along with her water shield, making her wide open for Houndoom's Thunder Fang."

Jacob groaned at the sight of this while Harold covered his eyes saying, "I can't watch this!"

However, despite all the pain, Floatzel was still far from done as she started to rise back up to her feet, Houndoom's fangs still stuck in her shoulder and sending electricity through her body. The crowd gasped as she grabbed Houndoom's head, forcing the fangs farther inward.

"What's she doing!?" Izy spat as Jacob's eyes went wide, the boy shouting, "Floatzel, what do you think you're doing!? That'll only hurt you more!"

However, Floatzel's plan was made perfectly clear when the weasel used all her might to lift Houndoom up above her head. The wolf's eyes widened as she tried her best to pry her fangs out of the weasel's flesh, but Floatzel had dug them in too deep, and as such, the weasel leaned backwards, slamming the wolf's body hard into the ground.

All was silent as Houndoom lay there, now in extreme pain before breaking out into cheers, Moro's eyes wide as he shouted, "DID YOU SEE THAT, NURSE BOREDOM!!!!!"

The nurse slowly turned her head to him saying, "I saw it, alright? You act like this is something special."

"But it is," Moro replied while folding his arms, scowling. What would it take for that nurse to show some enthusiasm?

But it didn't end with that. Houndoom started to rise back to his feet as Floatzel quickly whipped her tail around, unleashing her Sonic Boom, the wolf flying hard into the wall as his eyes started to swirl.

Jacob's eyes sparkled as he shouted, "FLOATZEL, THAT WAS AMAZING!!!!!" while Sampson sighed, returning his Houndoom. That truly had been an amazing sight. Floatzel had pulled off a miracle.

"Well, I must say, Jacob," the man said with a grin, "You're the best opponent I've had so far, but I'm afraid your luck has run out."

Before throwing his last Pokeball into the arena, he heard a voice say, "Well, it took you long enough!"

He glared at the ball as the voice came out again saying, "If you had used me from the get-go, you would still have 2 other Pokemon and he's most likely be down to his last one."

Sampson simply rolled his eyes, ignoring the words of his partner, even if they were true. That said, he hurled the ball into the arena as Spiritomb took form. Jacob gulped and thought, 'I've been preparing for this,' and decided to replace Floatzel with Infernape, the monkey taking a battle stance. He was going to win this no matter what.

However, Anna had a look of uncertainty on her face as Izy placed a hand on her shoulder saying, "Come on, don't doubt Jacob's abilities. He has the upper hand in this battle. He could win."

"Yes," Anna said nodding, but she was still unsure. Spiritomb was a Pokemon full of surprises. This would be no easy battle.


	51. Chapter 51

Pokemon Quest

This was it. Sampson had finally sent out his trump card. Unlike all the other times, Jacob was determined to defeat Spiritomb, and knowing everything about the Pokemon certainly helped. He had taken every precaution necessary to ensure that he would win this battle. He'd chosen the 3 best Pokemon in his arsenal for the job and all of them were still in the battle. This couldn't have been any more perfect.

Was Sampson worried? Yes, he was very worried. He'd never had a bigger disadvantage before. However, he refused to show it. He couldn't allow Jacob to think he had won.

Jacob gave Infernape thumbs up and nodded saying, "Remember, only use Fire Attacks."

The monkey nodded at her master before turning back towards her opponent. The first thing she did was open up her mouth unleashing her Ember Attack. Sampson had to admit, he was impressed. This was a very good strategy as Spiritomb was unable to move from his spot. However, that didn't necessarily mean the attack would hit.

Sampson gave his partner a look as Spiritomb's energy-made body started to spin like a pinwheel. At that exact moment, a gust of wind came from the Pokemon and blew out the incoming flames, sending Infernape flying into the wall while Jacob's eyes went wide, Anna and Izy both cringing.

"Infernape, are you okay!?" Jacob asked in shock as the monkey slowly rose to her feet, rubbing the back of her head. They all knew Spiritomb was a pest, but this was just ridiculous.

As if the previous attack hadn't been bad enough, a strange aura briefly surrounded Spiritomb's body. Sampson grinned and said, "Your Pokemon just succumbed to Ominous Wind. When used, it has a small chance of increasing all of the user's stats. It seems to have succeeded in doing just that."

Now Jacob had two problems. Due to the surprising amount of damage dealt by Sampson's Shiftry earlier, Infernape didn't have much strength left and now Spiritomb was even stronger than before. But something like this would not destroy Jacob's fighting spirit.

"Alright, Infernape," he said grinning at his partner, "That plan backfired, but we still have another ace up our sleeves. Let's give plan B a try, shall we?"

Infernape grinned at her master and nodded as she charged towards Spiritomb, flames surrounding her body. Sampson sighed, rather disappointed by the fact that Jacob was testing his Infernape's luck with Flare Blitz, and attack that also damaged the user if successful. But that wasn't the reason this strategy was flawed. The biggest flaw was that Spiritomb could easily counter this.

"What's Jacob doing?" Izy asked, gritting her teeth, "Doesn't he know by now that direct attacks won't work?"

"Maybe he's run out of options," Harold stated as Anna shook her head saying, "I have a feeling he has a more effective strategy, but that's just what I think. I might be wrong."

Spiritomb grinned wickedly as a dark fist formed in front of him, shooting straight towards the incoming monkey. However, rather than succumbing to the attack, Infernape leapt to the side, flames still surrounding her. Despite this, Sampson wasn't the least bit worried as that Sucker Punch was just a distraction for Spiritomb to hit the monkey with another Ominous Wind. However, just as the attack was about to hit, Infernape blew a stream of flames, rolling into a ball as her Flame Wheel took form. Sampson's eyes went wide as the wheel overpowered the wind, Infernape headed straight for Spiritomb.

Sampson gritted his teeth as a shadow formed from underneath the spirit. Soon, the shadow appeared right behind Infernape, grabbing onto the flaming wheel. However, this proved futile as the wheel broke free from the Shadow Sneak and blasted straight through Spiritomb, flames surrounding him as he cried out in pain, his dark energy turning beet red for the time being.

Anna, Izy and Harold cheered wildly while the crowd applauded such an amazing strategy. So far, this was the second attack to ever hit Spiritomb, so this was naturally a special occasion for the audience to witness.

Moro sniffed and let down a tear saying, "It just does my heart so good that he pulled that off with the Pokemon I gave him."

"Alright, let's get him with Flare Blitz while he's distracted!" Jacob shouted as Infernape's body was once again covered in flames, the monkey charging towards her target. However, Spiritomb didn't burn for very long, and soon the fire had subsided as his eyes vanished and reappeared on the other side of his head to face the incoming Infernape. The monkey, fully confident that the Flare Blitz would land, was unprepared for the incoming Sucker Punch to the fact as she flew into the wall. Not only did this hurt, but due to the fact that her flames were still covering her body, this counted as delivering a Flare Blitz to the wall, meaning that she took in recoil damage despite not hitting her original target.

And that was that. Infernape was out cold as Jacob bit his lip and returned the monkey to her ball, sighing.

"He was doing so well, too," Izy said with a look of worry as Anna scowled. She had really wanted that to work.

"You did a good job out there, Infernape," Jacob said as he quickly sent Floatzel in. Sure, the weasel's shoulder was bleeding, but he needed to save his healthiest for last. If Manectric was to win this battle, Floatzel would have to at least give him something to work with.

Sampson had to admit, he was a little frightened now. Jacob still had two Pokemon left and Spiritomb had just taken in a fairly good amount of damage from that last move.

"Alright, Floatzel, we prepared for this," Jacob said with a grin, "You don't have much left in you, so we'd better make this count."

The weasel nodded as water surrounded her body, the weasel flying towards Spiritomb with her Aqua Jet ready. This would be a lot more difficult as Floatzel had less attacks that could actually harm her opponent.

"Did that last battle teach you nothing?" Sampson asked with a grin as Spiritomb unleashed Dark Pulse, knowing that his other counters would have been useless against Aqua Jet.

The aura seeped through the water barrier around the weasel, but something odd happened. When Floatzel felt the pain from the attack, her body started to spin, the Aqua Jet transforming into a drill-like shape.

"I was hoping you'd do something like that," Jacob said with a grin, "I taught Floatzel how to turn her own pain into a useful weapon when using Aqua Jet just in case something like that happened. Now the attack is twice as strong as it was before."

Sampson's eyes went wide, everyone else in complete shock as the liquid drill blasted straight through Spiritomb, the spirit crying in pain. Floatzel had once again performed a miracle while the crowd cheered.

However, this wasn't exactly a best case scenario. Before pulling off that amazing move, Floatzel had allowed herself to take in damage, and Dark Pulse was a very powerful move. As such, Floatzel was unable to so much as pose for the cheering crowd as she closed her eyes, falling to the ground in defeat as Jacob returned her to her ball saying, "You did great, Floatzel."

Unfortunately, Spiritomb shook off the pain soon enough, clearly not defeated yet as the crowd groaned. Izy and Anna fumed, starting to wonder if Manectric would even have what it took to defeat this menace.

But just as Jacob was ready to pull out Manectric's Pokeball, Lucario pulled on the boy's pant leg. Jacob looked down at the infant and asked, "Are you sure you can do this? Don't forget, most of your best attacks don't work on him."

Lucario had a serious look on his face as Jacob sighed, smiled and said, "Alright, Lucario, make me proud," as the infant stepped forward, everyone surprised by this decision.

Izy slapped her forehead as she groaned, "Come on, now is not the time to put trust over common sense."

Well, it was too late now. Sure, Lucario only had a few attacks that really worked, but Jacob still had faith in his first Pokemon. Lucario had always been there, defeating the most powerful opponents.

"Alright, Lucario, try your best not to get hit," the boy said as the infant nodded and rushed towards Spiritomb.

The spirit sent a sucker punch towards Lucario as the infant leapt to the side only to be hit by an Ominous Wind, flying into a wall, rubbing the back of his head. Jacob gritted his teeth at the sight of this. That strategy had failed. But luckily, ghost type attacks like Ominous wind only dealt half the damage to Lucario they'd normally deal to other Pokemon, so the infant easily shook off the pain.

Sampson's worry had been replaced by a boost in confidence. Clearly, Lucario wasn't nearly as difficult as the last two Pokemon.

"I have an idea," Jacob said with a grin as he gave Lucario some commands, the infant nodding as he placed his arms behind his back, speeding back towards his target.

"And here I thought you were a smart trainer," Sampson said with a grin as Spiritomb prepared another Sucker Punch. However, Lucario was prepared for this as he pulled his hands out from behind his back, holding up 8 bones, 4 in each hand. Sampson tilted his head to the side as Lucario hurled the bones toward Spiritomb, slowing down the Sucker Punch with the first seven and destroying it with the eighth.

Spiritomb was unable to respond after that as Lucario's hand turned into steel, Lucario swiping them across the spirit's face. Despite being a physical attack, Metal Claw was a steel based attack, meaning it actually dealt damage to the Spiritomb. But Lucario didn't leave it at that as he opened his mouth, covering Spiritomb's energy-made body with a shock wave known as Dragon Pulse.

Spiritomb cried in agony as Sampson's eyes went wide. He couldn't believe this. Spiritomb was actually losing to a Lucario.

"Excellent work, buddy!" Jacob shouted while the crowd cheered insanely, Izy and Anna embracing one-another and Harold letting down tears of jealousy, feeling a tad left out.

"Let's finish this with one last Metal Claw!" Jacob shouted, but just as Lucario was about to strike, something stopped him from advancing far enough towards his foe.

Everyone was in shock as a shadow had its arms wrapped around Lucario's sides. Just like Toxicroak, Lucario had been stopped by Shadow Sneak.

"Lucario, fight it!" Jacob shouted, but it was no use. The shadow leaned backward, planting Lucario's neck hard into the ground as silence filled the area, Lucario lying motionless.

After a few seconds, Sampson grinned and said, "Well, Jacob, you were the best opponent I ever had. It was an honor to face you."

Now, it couldn't end here, could it? Jacob had tried so hard to get to the semi-finals, and now all he had worked so hard for had come to an end.

Izy and Anna sighed, Harold hiding his face within his hands. Jacob had come so close, too.

However, there was an uproar from the audience as Sampson's eyes went wide. Jacob looked at the man and thought, 'What's his problem?'

He then shifted his eyes towards Lucario to notice the infant plant his hands firmly against the ground, slowly pushing himself back up to his feet. The crowd cheered insanely as Sampson frowned thinking, 'That Lucario is too damn persistent.'

Spiritomb, however, was unfazed by this as he prepared another Sucker Punch, Lucario leaping far away from him with his hands cupped together, energy forming within it. But wait, how was this supposed to help? Be this Aura Sphere or Aura Storm, it was still a fighting type move.

"WAIT, LUCARIO, USE A DIFFERENT ATTACK!!!!!" Jacob shouted, but it was too late. Lucario unleashed a devastating beam from his hands as it vaporized the energy fist and hit Spiritomb hard in the face. However, as predicted, it didn't have any effect on Spiritomb, the beam traveling into his body.

"This isn't good at all," Izy said as Anna nodded, adding, "Aura Storm's not only useless, but it takes up a lot of Lucario's energy."

Sampson grinned saying, "Well, Jacob, your Lucario has amazed me so far, but even I know he has spelled his own fate. This will be his final move, I can assure you."

But soon, everyone's eyes went wide with shock when the beam expanded in size, passing straight through Spiritomb's body. Spiritomb's eyes went wide as it cried in agony as the beam soon subsided and Lucario was barely able to support himself with one knee, breathing heavily.

Sampson's eyes were wide and twitching as Spiritomb's face vanished, the energy no longer spinning. Sampson sighed and took out his Pokeball, his head facing the ground as he slowly said, "Return..." a small beam consuming the spirit and returning him to his case.

All was silent until Moro grinned, raising his arm in the air and shouting, "WE HAVE A WINNER!!!!" the crowd cheering insanely, Izy excitedly ramming her fist into Harold's cheek before turning to him with a sweat drop saying, "Sorry about that."

Jacob just stared, eyes wide open and his face in disbelief until he replaced it with a smile and shouted, "I ACTUALLY WON!!!!"

This was truly a moment to be remembered. No one ever thought Sampson would lose, but it had finally happened. Sampson and his mystery Pokemon had finally been defeated.

After the cheering died down, Sampson walked toward Jacob slowly, a look of anger on his face. Jacob blinked, not sure whether to be scared or not. Surely, Sampson wasn't that poor of a sport, was he?

All was silent as Sampson walked over to the boy, let out a sigh and held his hand out. It took a few seconds for Jacob to realize what the man meant as his smile returned, the boy shaking the man's hand.

"Congratulations," Sampson said, "If anyone deserves to win the gold medal, it's you."

The cheers started up again as Moro let down tears crying, "SUCH COMPASSIONS, SUCH EMOTION!!!! ISN'T THIS JUST AN INCREDIBLE SIGHT, NURSE BOREDOM!!!!??"

The nurse shrugged as she fell asleep saying, "Wake me when the next battle starts," Moro groaning in frustration once again.

And so, Sampson exited the area waving goodbye to his opponent as Kevin stood up from his seat and said, "Excuse me, but I just remembered I have some business to attend to."

The other gym leaders simply shrugged as Kevin left, however, Sarah was a tad suspicious as she got up and said, "I need to go to the bathroom," running after the man. She knew Kevin was going to chase after Sampson and she had to make sure this wouldn't end badly.

Jacob then remembered something important as he turned his attention towards Lucario, who had passed out from exhaustion. The boy held his partner up and said, "You deserve a nice long rest, buddy. You were excellent out there today."


	52. Chapter 52

Pokemon Quest

How could this have happened? Everything was going so smoothly. This should have been easily prevented, but unfortunately, it had happened.

Sampson just had to face the fact that he had lost the tournament. Jacob had taken his spot in the finals. The boy may even win the gold medal. That is... if there was a gold medal to receive.

'This is nothing more than a minor setback,' the man thought with a grimace as he headed down the hallway, Janette's battle going on during this time. But just what was he planning? Why did Sampson need that gold medal so much?

Sampson's eyes darted back and forth as he noticed a room labeled 'Do not enter'. The man grinned as he pulled out a Pokeball, summoning his Weavile. He gave the cat-like creature a nod as Weavile placed one of her claws through the doorknob's keyhole, turning it while a clicking sound could be heard.

Meanwhile, Jacob waited in front of the hospital area as Nurse Optimism pointed her head out, tears in her eyes as she cried, "Don't you worry! That Lucario of yours will live to fight another day!"

Jacob simply stared at the door, blinking after the woman had closed it and thought, 'That woman has issues.'

At that very moment, Izy and Anna entered the area, Anna embracing the boy and shouting, "JACOB, YOU DID IT!!!!!"

Jacob blinked and strokes the back of the girl's hair, grinning nervously while saying, "Yes, I did do it, didn't I?"

Izy patted the boy on the shoulders saying, "Jacob, you are in the finals! Once you win, you'll be taking home the gold medal, just like you wanted!"

"It's more than just that," the boy replied as he sat on the bench outside of the hospital adding, "Don't forget about the prize money. Once I win that, I'm gonna give it to Harold so he can pay for his mother's health."

Izy simply sighed, rolling her eyes. There was something about Jacob's helpful nature that just made him likeable. Of course, winning his final battle wouldn't be easy. He may be facing Janette, and she had a knack for winning even when the odds were completely against her. Jacob needed to be as prepared as he could ever be.

Meanwhile, Sampson had been walking down a long hallway for over three minutes. The man simply frowned as he thought, 'Where the hell is it?'

After another minute of seemingly endless walking, he finally found himself in front of another door. This one didn't have a label on it, but the man knew what it was hiding. He reached for the handle and pulled on it, his eyes widening a bit when the door opened up with ease.

'You'd think they would have locked it first,' the man thought with a grin, 'Oh well, this just makes my job so much easier.'

But when he stepped foot in the other room, his eyes went wide when a piece of the wall opened up, a pie slapping itself hard into his face. Sampson, who would normally keep his cool, was slightly annoyed by that childish joke.

But it didn't end there. Suddenly, a group of rocks shot out of another section of the wall. Sampson barely noticed it in time to duck under it, failing to notice an army of robotic spiders surrounding his feet, binding the feet down with sticky silk.

Sampson's eye started to twitch when a group of built-in flamethrowers pointed out of the wall and released a burst of flames around the area. Sampson leaned back just in time for the flames to miss, a small one grazing his shoes while also burning the silk off. Sampson dared not question the stupidity behind a trap freeing him as he was just glad to be alive right now.

Things got even worse when electricity started to run through the floorboards. Sampson grinned as the answer to this one was obvious, the man leaping while performing a back flip to avoid the electric current. This security system was far too easy for the man to take advantage of. It was actually quite amusing.

Suddenly, 4 scythes flew out of the wall like boomerangs, Sampson barely shifting his head in time to avoid his head being chopped off. Now he had a reason to be scared. These people meant business.

As if that wasn't enough, a strange black fog shot out of a set of a cannons also built into the walls, the man now unable to see anything coming at him. Finally, the room filled up with water as the man struggled to remain balanced, eventually slipping and falling on his back while the water passed through a conveniently-placed drain pipe.

While Sampson lay on the ground, he felt insulted. Was all of that a cruel joke? He also felt a bit mad at himself for actually falling for it.

Nevertheless, it was finally over. The man slowly rose to his feet, shaking off the pain and rubbing the back of his head. Now there was nothing stopping him as he gazed upon the very items placed in this room, the prize medals. There was a bronze medal for third, a silver medal for second and a gold medal for first. All Sampson wanted was the gold medal.

The man slowly approached it, eyes shifting just in case there was another trap. Luckily, nothing happened as he slowly reached for the medal.

"STOP RIGHT THERE!!!" came a voice from behind. Sampson gritted his teeth, turning toward the source seeing that Kevin was standing right there.

"I knew you couldn't be trusted," Kevin said with a sigh, "but why do you want to steal the gold medal?"

"Are you kidding?" Sampson remarked, "Do you KNOW what this medal is!?"

Kevin folded his arms stating, "As a matter of fact, I do. I was actually hoping you wouldn't."

Sampson grinned wickedly, a face not often seen from him as he replied, "Oh, so you know how this medal was crafted by Darkrai himself and has the power to resurrect Giratina from the dead and force him to work for whoever uses it."

"Why wouldn't I?" Kevin remarked, "After all, Darkrai was the one who entrusted it to me."

Sampson's eyes went wide at the sound of that. Just what was Kevin's connection to Darkrai? But there was a much more important question in mind right now.

"May I ask why?" he asked as Kevin remarked, "I don't follow," Sampson barking, "You know very well what I mean! Why would you put something like this up as a prize!? Did it never occur to you just how stupid that is!?"

"The thought had crossed my mind," Kevin stated, "I'm already seeing the downside to it, guys like you trying to steal it and all that. However, there was a reason I chose this particular medal, or better yet, medallion."

Sampson's eyes narrowed as Kevin started to walk back and forth, his hands behind his back while explaining, "See, I'm going to be moving to another region soon, as such, I have to leave the medal behind, but I don't feel any of the other gym leaders can truly take my place as the guard. As such, I intend to entrust it unto the winner of this tournament, someone who'd never want Giratina to return and will defend it just as well as I could."

"What made you honestly believe that was a good idea?" Sampson remarked as Kevin chuckled and said, "You could call it a gut feeling if you want."

At that moment, Kevin whipped out his two Pokeballs, Sampson quickly doing the same, summoning his Spiritomb at the same time Kevin's legends appeared, Mew and Mewtwo. All Sampson could do was laugh wickedly at this while Kevin narrowed his eyes.

"How stupid do you have to be to pit those two up against my Spiritomb?" he asked while still laughing, "You and I both know those two can't do a thing to my Spiritomb!"

"Of course," Kevin replied while lowering his head, "You're right. They can't do anything to Spiritomb..."

Sampson grinned and was ready to grab the medal when Kevin lifted his head up shouting, "IT'S NOT YOUR SPIRITOMB THEY'RE TARGETTING!!!! NOW!!!!"

Sampson's eyes went wide as Mew and Mewtwo each fired and aura sphere towards the spirit's keystone. But seconds before the orbs landed, Spiritomb lowered his energy-made body, absorbing the shots.

"You forget that my partner's linked to the keystone," the boy said with a grin, "You also seem to have forgotten that he can defend himself without my command. You were smart to attack the keystone, but it means nothing if you can't hit it!"

Kevin gritted his teeth in frustration. How could he fall for such an obvious trick? But perhaps it wasn't all hopeless. What about close-range attacks? Each time those got close enough to Spiritomb, the Pokemon was unable to do a thing about them.

He gave the two legends a serious look, nodding his head while Spiritomb prepared his Ominous Wind. Being a ghost type attack, it had a big advantage against them, so it was crucial that the attack wouldn't hit them.

Mew and Mewtwo looked at one-another, nodding their heads as they split up mere seconds before Ominous Wind could hit them. Sampson's eyes went wide as Mewtwo fired another Aura Sphere towards the keystone. While Spiritomb absorbed the incoming attack, Mew flew right behind him, fist glowing for a Mega Punch when he came to a halt.

Mew's hand stopped glow as a shadow had appeared behind him, holding onto that very arm. Then with a swift movement of the hand, Mew found himself thrown into the wall. So much for Kevin's sneak attack.

"I have to admit, that was a pretty genius tactic," Sampson said with a shrug, "It's gonna be hard to top that, isn't it?"

Kevin gritted his teeth in fury. As much as he hated to admit it, Sampson was right. What else could he do? Seeing this, both Mew and Mewtwo started to worry. But soon, Mewtwo's worried look turned to one of confidence.

The legend turned to Mew and nodded at the cat-like creature, who took a while to realize what Mewtwo meant but soon returned the nod. Both Kevin and Sampson were confused, but Spiritomb was not willing to wait for them to attempt another tactic.

The spirit formed fist of dark energy, launching it towards the two as the legends easily dodged it. Mew sent an array of Aura Spheres towards Spiritomb who simply absorbed each one. It would take a lot more than that to stop him. However, Mew was preparing an attack of his own from behind. Spiritomb grew tired of Mewtwo's efforts to distract him as he hit the legend with ominous wind, Mewtwo's back hitting the wall hard.

However, Mew was just about to unleash his attack as Spiritomb turned his attention back towards the cat creature, but much to his shock, an onslaught of stones came at him. This was known as Ancient Power, and being a rock type attack, it actually had an effect against the spirit.

Sampson's eyes were wide as Kevin laughed triumphantly saying, "Excellent thinking, boys!" the rocks hitting Spiritomb hard in the face, the spirit crying out in pain while Mewtwo recovered from the earlier attack, rushing towards the keystone, Mew doing the same.

Sampson covered his eyes, unable to watch, but after a few seconds, he didn't hear anything. He had expected to at least hear the sound of rock shattering.

When he uncovered his eyes, he noticed Kevin's jaw dropped and soon noticed the reason. Two shadows had grabbed hold of the legendary duo, trapping them in place.

"Spiritomb..." he said with a wicked grin, "You actually managed to use a double shadow sneak. I didn't think you could."

When Mew and Mewtwo were each tossed into the wall, Kevin knew it was over. Their most fool-proof strategy had failed them. How could they possibly stop Sampson's Spiritomb now?

But as all seemed lost, no one in the room noticed a rock flying straight for the keystone. When Spiritomb saw it flying towards him, it was too late. The rock covered the keystone, crushing it under its weight as the spirit cried out in pain, his body vanishing in mere seconds.

Sampson's eyes went wide as he fell on his hands and knees, eyes and mouth twitching. Kevin looked over at him and realized the man was in a state of shock. After all, his best Pokemon had just died right in front of his face.

But where had the rock come from? The gym leader turned his gaze toward the entrance, his eyes widening when he saw Sarah standing there with her Golem by her side.

"I figured you could use some help," the girl said with a grin, "I would have helped out sooner, but Golem needed a rock that he could use Rock Throw with."

Kevin smiled and chuckled, shaking his head saying, "I can't thank you enough, Sarah."

The woman ran over to Kevin while he returned his legends and said, "I'm sorry for doubting you, Kevin. You were right. Sampson did have bad intentions."

"It's okay, don't you dare apologize to me," Kevin remarked with a grin, "How were you supposed to know? It's not like anyone else saw it coming. Even I was beginning to doubt it."

Now one question remained: What were they going to do with Sampson? The man was still in shock, unable to move from his spot, so the two shrugged and decided to hall him off to the police station, but all the while, they agreed not to breathe a word of this to anyone else. If they found out, they could very well get the same idea Sampson did.

As expected, Janette won her semi-final battle with ease while the crowd cheered. But rather than staying to give her opponent some spirit or cheering up like she usually did, she immediately left the arena. But why?

All the while, Jacob was busy training his Pokemon for the final battle when a hand tapped him on the shoulder. He slowly turned to the source and was shocked to see Janette standing right in front of him.

"Hello, Jacob," she said with a bow as the boy grinned nervously saying, "Uh... hi..."

And so, the girl and Jacob sat down after the boy returned his Pokemon. Janette was silent for a few seconds before she opened her mouth letting out the words, "I'm your last opponent."

Jacob sat there silent for a few seconds. While this was a surprise, it wasn't a big one. In a way, he had pretty much expected this.

"I just wanted to wish you the best of luck tomorrow," the girl said with a smile as Jacob sighed saying, "You too, Janette. Don't you dare go easy on me."

The two shared a quick laugh after that line before Janette headed off to prepare herself. Jacob needed to stay focused. Sure, the girl who had gotten him out of a tight spot was his last opponent, but so what? He'd worked hard to get this far and there was no way he would throw it all away now. He was determined to win at all cost.

As he sent out his Pokemon once more to continue their training, Izy and Anna entered the area. Izy walked over the boy and said, "Hey, Jacob, your final opponent is Janette."

"I know," Jacob said with a grin, "That's why I'm training extra hard."

"That's good, I guess..." Izy said as Anna smiled in understanding, exiting the area.

Jacob turned to his friend with a look of worry and asked, "What's wrong, Izy?"

Izy simply blinked and looked down while saying, "Nothing's wrong. Why would something be wrong?"

Jacob sighed, sitting beside her and said, "I'd just like to thank you, Izy."

The girl looked at the boy with silence as he continued, "You've been nothing but a great friend to me this whole time. You stuck by me even after Team Advent was defeated. To do all that for me... you're a great person."

Izy blushed a little as she placed a hand on his shoulder saying, "I know you're going to beat Janette tomorrow. I just know it."

And so, the two shared a quiet moment together. Izy wanted so desperately to tell Jacob her feelings right now. This was the perfect environment. They were alone, the scenery was beautiful... and yet, she just couldn't bring herself to tell him yet. For one thing, telling him now could throw him off-guard and hinder his performance in the finals. Secondly, Lucario was there, but it wasn't like he would interfere. But most importantly, she didn't feel it was time.

Soon enough, night came and everyone was fast asleep. Tomorrow was a big day for everyone. Jacob and Lucario both needed to be well rested for this event.


	53. Chapter 53

Pokemon Quest

This was it, the biggest day for everyone. It was the final tournament battle between Jacob and Janette. Only one of those two would come out the champion and everyone was fired up for this event. This was going to be a battle between the best trainers in the tournament. Who would come out on top? Everyone just had to wait and see first.

Jacob stood in front of a mirror an hour before the event started and let out a sigh. 'This is it,' he thought, 'I can't lose now.'

As he exited his room after waking Lucario up from his deep slumber, of course, he walked down the halls when a certain duo ran up to him. The boy blinked as he asked, "Why are you two here? Shouldn't you be in the bleachers like everyone else?"

Izy placed a hand on the boy's shoulder and said, "We just wanted to wish you luck out there."

Anna smiled and said, "You do the best you can out there, Jacob. Even if you don't win, at least you made it this far."

Again, Jacob had been reminded of Kevin's words, and those words were certainly true. Throughout the tournament, Jacob had many moments of doubt. It also seemed like he would never make it this far, and yet he had defeated every opponent he had gotten up to this point. There was no way he was going to lose.

Izy then remembered something important and pulled a strange object out of her pocket. Jacob blinked, looking at it strangely and asked, "You're giving me a flower?"

"Not just any flower," Izy said with a grin as she pinned it onto the front of his shirt, "It's a Camellia, said to be good luck for males."

Jacob could only stand there blinking in response to this. A flower was an odd gift coming from someone tough like Izy. But it was thoughtful all the same, so what reason did the boy have to complain?

"Thank you," he said as he realized he only had less than an hour to prepare.

He and Lucario ran down the hall, waving to their friends who gave the two thumbs up before heading off to find seats. Along the way, Jacob screeched to a halt when he saw Janette looking at her Pokeballs.

"You've all done a fantastic job," the girl said with a compassionate smile, "Now is the biggest day for you all. Let's do our best to take home the gold medal."

Jacob sighed at the sight of this. Janette had done a lot to help Jacob. If it hadn't been for her, he wouldn't have even come close to the finals. But the boy knew that he had to defeat her if he was to win and he would stop at nothing to get that far.

The stadium was full of spectators and there were even more watching at home. Even those who had missed the first few rounds were gathered together to watch the final battle take place. Even Jenna and Donavan sat in the crowd.

"So, tell me, Jenna," Donavan asked, "why exactly are we cheering for Jacob again?"

"No one who beats us as many times as he has should be allowed to lose!" the woman spat as she looked down, "Besides, after losing to him so many times, I've developed a strange fondness for him. It must be his fighting spirit."

Donavan blinked before putting on an immature smirk, giving his partner a noogie while saying, "Jenna, you've become a softy!" the woman gritting her teeth before ramming her fist into the man's chin.

Perona folded her arms and sighed, "That boy may have lost to me with ease, but he certainly has spirit. I hope he wins."

Even the gym leaders were hoping for Jacob to win, but of course they couldn't say this out loud. As gym leaders, they weren't allowed to play favorites. As for the Elite Four... they didn't really know Jacob well enough to assume anything. To them, it was anyone's game.

Moro was also secretly hoping for Jacob to win, but not only was a professor but he was also the judge. He couldn't be biased no matter what. As for Nurse Boredom, must like the Elite Four, she had no opinion, but that was mostly due to her lack of enthusiasm.

The professor glared at her and muttered, "Boredom, try to stay awake for this one," while the nurse shrugged, pulling out a small package of pills and gulping a few down. These were placebos, sugar pills, so they would at least keep her awake for the entirety of the battle.

Back at home, Jacob's mother watched the TV screen, sighing. 'You'd be glad to see your son now,' she thought with a tear forming in her eye, 'He's done just about everything you dreamed of doing,' while she looked at a photo of her husband, wiping the tear away.

Even someone who Jacob would rather have not seen again was in the crowd. That's right, Roxanne had shown up after a long journey just so she could see Jacob's final battle. When would she get it in her head that the two weren't friends?

At that very moment, Moro stood up tall and proud and said, "Everyone, it's finally time for the moment you've all been waiting for!"

The crowd groaned at the sound of this. Most had been praying for Moro NOT to make another long-winded speech, but it seemed unavoidable.

"This is truly an exciting day for all of us," the man said as an audience member hurled a shoe at his head, only to miss as it hit Nurse Boredom hard, the woman angrily tossing it back, clocking the obnoxious man over the skull then going back to her bored state.

"We are about to see an incredible battle," the professor continued, "Both these young trainers have fought long and hard to make it to the finals, and here they are! First, I would like to introduce Jacob!"

The crowd cheered heavily as Jacob ran into the arena while giving Lucario a horsey ride. It didn't look quite as degrading as it may sound. At least Lucario was enjoying himself.

Izy and Anna both held up signs saying 'Jacob Rules' while Harold decided to help out by throwing confetti into the air. Unfortunately, confetti or not, it didn't add much, but Jacob appreciated it all the same.

Roxanne rose her arms in the air shouting, "YOU GO, JACOB!!!!" as the boy turned to the crowd, his eyes going wide as Lucario started to tremble with fear. 'Not her,' the boy thought with a groan as he took his position.

Izy and Anna turned to the hyperactive cheerleader as well while Izy narrowed her eyes muttering, "What's that idiot doing here?"

Moro then proceeded to say, "Janette has also come a very long way. She grew up in a rich family, no one knew who she was. She basically came out of nowhere, and yet here she is. Let's give her a round of applause!"

Many cheered for Janette as well while she simply bowed and said, "You're too kind."

Before the battle could begin, Jacob walked over to Janette while all was silent. The boy held out his hand as Janette shook it saying, "Good luck, Jacob," the boy grinning and saying, "Don't feel too bad if I beat you."

The two then walked back to their sides as Moro let down tears of joy saying, "What great sportsmanship between the two of them! Doesn't it just make you want to go out and appreciate others, Nurse Boredom!?"

The nurse started to look at the professor strangely as if he was mental. The professor let out a sigh, burrowing his head under his hands. Just what would it take to make her act like she cared?

It was finally time for the battle to begin as a roulette was brought up for everyone to see. It had 3 spaces on it, three of them with Jacob's face and the other three with Janette's. The pointer started to spin and after twenty seconds, landed on Janette's face.

"The roulette has chosen Janette!" Moro announced, "Therefore Janette will choose the first Pokemon! By the way, I forgot to mention the rule changes for this round!"

The crowd moaned in agony, bracing themselves for another speech while Moro cleared his throat and explained, "Unlike the other rounds, the trainers must use all of their Pokemon, making this the longest battle so far. Also, trainers are not allowed to switch out Pokemon until the end of the battle, so if you feel you made a bad choice, you must wait until that battle ends before you can return them!"

Everyone sighed with relief at the shortness of that speech as Janette smiled and hurled her Pokeball into the arena, a purple star with a red gemstone on its center appearing. Around the gym was a golden plate and another star was attached to its back. This was known as Starmie, one of the most rarely seen water type Pokemon.

What mattered to Jacob was that she was a water type, meaning that there were two Pokemon perfect for this job, but there was only one he felt he needed for this. He hurled his own Pokeball into the arena as Manectric took form.

Everyone cheered as Manectric howled into the air, Anna's eyes sparkling. She was seeing two of the most beautiful Pokemon in existence. What could be better?

And so the battle began as Manectric started things off immediately with his eyes glowing. This was his Leer ability, so Starmie's defense went down a bit.

In response to this, the starfish leapt into the air, spinning her body around for an attack known as Rabid Spin, but as she soared downward towards her target, Manectric prepared himself to dodge.

"Wait!" Jacob shouted as Manectric looked at him, the boy saying, "Rabid Spin never misses its target! Try countering it instead!"

The wolf nodded before turning his gaze back to his opponent, who was only seconds away from hitting him. He needed to time this just right, so he focused hard and howled, electricity coming from his body and hitting Starmie hard, the Spark surrounding her body. But much to Jacob and Manectric's shock, the attack hadn't even caused the starfish to flinch and as such, the wolf took the fierce blow to the face hard, Starmie returning to the ground and posing for the cheering crowd.

Izy sighed and said, "I was really hoping that would work," Anna looking neutral. Now Jacob's chances of winning weren't looking as high as they had before.

But Jacob wasn't too worried. While Manectric had failed in preventing the attack from hitting, Starmie had taken in some damage from the previous attack, and it was showing as the light from her gemstone started to blink.

Janette gave Starmie a sympathetic smile and said, "You did a great job back there, Starmie. Now let's get him with Power Gem."

Jacob's eyes went wide at the sound of that. That wasn't a good sign.

"Manectric, stop her!" he shouted as the wolf nodded, charging towards Janette with his fangs gnashing out, but seconds before he could hit the starfish, Starmie's gem started to glow as flashes of light flew out, hitting the electric wolf dead-on and sending him back a ways. That was Power Gem, a rock type move.

As if that wasn't enough, Starmie added to the damage by forming a steel ball and launching it at her opponent, hitting him hard while the wolf cried out in pain. That attack was known as Gyro Ball.

"Great job, Starmie," Janette said, "Now finish him with Rapid Spin!"

Once again, Starmie took to the sky and spun her body around, heading towards the wolf at an alarming speed. But this time, Manectric was ready. He was not going to let himself get hit by this again.

The wolf shook off the pain from the previous attacks, but after doing so, he realized that Starmie was too close for him to use a long-ranged attack. As such, he opened his jaws wide and closed them around one of Starmie's arms once she was close enough.

"WAY TO GO!!!" Jacob shouted, but that enthusiasm ended as Starmie ignored the pain, still spinning while carrying Manectric with her, tilting her body towards the ground so the wolf would slam into it with each trip.

Despite the pain, Manectric held on as electricity flowed through Starmie's body. Janette had to admit, she was impressed and soon enough, Starmie tired out and the spinning stopped, the starfish breathing heavily and passing out while Manectric removed his fangs from her arm, now covered in bruises.

Manectric gave his master a grin before passing out, the whole area silent. Janette simply smiled and said, "That Manectric of yours is really something," returning Starmie to her ball as Jacob sighed, returning his wolf and said, "Great job, Manectric. She's one Pokemon short thanks to you."

"What an incredible sight!" Moro shouted, "Did you see that? Manectric ignored the extreme torture he put himself in just so he could take that Starmie down! What passion, what charisma!"

Boredom simply groaned wishing she hadn't taken the placebos, Moro folding his arms with a grimace. Again, what would it take to make that nurse care?

Janette smiled and sent in another Pokeball as an electric wolf of her own known as Luxray. Much like before, Jacob had just the Pokemon for this as he sent Cacturne into the arena.

The boy was still worried despite his second type advantage. He had to remember that Janette's Pokemon had a knack for defeating their opponents regardless of type disadvantages. And after that Starmie almost won the battle with his Manectric, he needed to be careful.

The battle began with Luxray charging towards the cactus as Jacob shouting, "Cacturne, dodge to the side and hit him with Needle Arm!"

As Luxray leapt at the cactus, Cacturne stepped to the side but was unable to dodge in time as Luxray bit hard into his arm, using his Crunch Attack. Cacturne cried in pain before using his free arm to punch the wolf in the side of the face, Luxray releasing the cactus.

"Great job, Cacturne!" Jacob exclaimed while Izy sighed with relief, the boy shouting, "Get that Luxray with Poison Sting before he recovers!"

But it was too late. Luxray had shaken off the pain to his now bleeding cheek and started to circle the cactus' body at an alarming speed.

Jacob had no idea what to do. Cacturne wasn't exactly a fast Pokemon, so to hit an opponent moving at this kind of speed would be difficult. And it proved to be just that as Luxray shifted momentum after getting behind the cactus, ramming hard into his back before crunching down hard into his shoulder, water dripping down from it, him being a cactus and all.

The cactus coughed up more water from his body as he tried his hardest to pry Luxray off of him, but the wolf ignored the pain, swinging his head to the side and releasing his hold on Cacturne, the cactus Pokemon flying hard into the wall and passing out.

Jacob's eyes went wide, his jaw dropping while Izy and Anna gasped. Cacturne had already lost. Now Janette was winning the battle. Could Jacob possibly make up for this? Against any other opponent, maybe, but against Janette, it seemed like an impossible task. But Anna didn't seem nearly as worried as Izy was. Maybe Jacob could turn this around.


	54. Chapter 54

Pokemon Quest

Things had gotten difficult now. Janette had her Luxray out and Jacob had lost the one Pokemon with an advantage over it. But wait, maybe there was another way.

Then the answer hit Jacob like a rock. Infernape would actually be a very good choice. First of all, Infernape wasn't weak against electric attacks, but she didn't necessarily have an advantage over them either. However, Luxray was fast and Infernape was fast. Jacob grinned knowing what he could do.

He whipped out a Pokeball and shouted, "GO GET HIM, INFERNAPE!!!!" the monkey taking form.

Luxray growled before charging towards the monkey, his fangs opened wide. Luckily, Infernape was ready for this as she leapt to the side, punching the wolf hard in the waist area, Luxray tumbling across the ground while groaning in pain.

Izy and Harold both cheered for this amazing comeback, but Anna didn't seem so sure. It all felt just a tad too easy in her eyes.

Luxray got to his feet with fury in his eyes only to find a ring of fire trapping him in place. This was a result of Infernape's Fire Spin attack.

"Way to go, Infernape!" Jacob shouted, but Janette seemed to still have confidence in her Luxray as she simply nodded towards him, the wolf grinning wickedly.

Much to everyone's shock, the wolf let out a loud howl before charging straight towards the flames. Everyone gasped in shock when Luxray ran straight through the ring of fire. Sure, his body had a few burns on it, but he seemed to easily ignore this while Infernape was too shocked to do anything.

"DON'T JUST STAND THERE!!!!" Jacob spat while Izy watched with her eyes wide open and her jaw dropped, Luxray jabbing his fangs hard into the monkey's shoulder, blood trickling down Infernape while electricity surged through her body.

Jacob could do nothing but watch with his eyes wide open. Due to the battle's rules, he couldn't return the monkey, so Infernape had no choice but to put up with it.

Moro's eyes went wide as the man shouted, "Did you see that!? That was the most amazing thing I've ever seen! That Luxray could have killed himself!"

All Nurse Boredom could do was roll her eyes and say, "I'm just glad he didn't," while Moro glared at the nurse and grumbled once again.

However, Jacob wasn't going to let his partner lose so easily. He then remember his previous battle with Sampson and how Floatzel had ignored a Thunder Fang attack herself, overpowering it and dominating her opponent. Then the answer hit him.

"INFERNAPE!!!" he shouted while the monkey cried in pain, "Ignore the pain! I know it's hard, but just try! Use Luxray's grip on you to your advantage!"

Infernape's eyes went wide at the sound of that as the crowd watched with curiosity. The monkey nodded and placed her hands up against the side of Luxray's head, lifting the wolf up high. She then allowed her body to drop toward the ground, Luxray's back hitting the ground hard causing the wolf to let go, his eyes now closed.

Janette simply stared at the scene for a few seconds before smiling and saying, "Well, congratulations. You actually beat my Luxray," returning the wolf to his Pokeball seconds later while the crowd cheered heavily.

"That boy still amazes me," Izy said with a sigh as Moro let down tears saying, "It just does my heart so good to see him do that with the Pokemon I gave him!" Nurse Boredom burying her head in her own arms.

Roxanne waved her arms wildly in the air shouting, "GO GET HER, JACOB!!!! YOU ROCK!!!!" Izy resisting the temptation to sick her Noctowl on the hyperactive girl.

"That was a very smart strategy," Janette said with a smile, "It's been a great battle so far, Jacob."

Jacob grinned and replied, "You've been a great opponent so far yourself."

With that, Janette sent in a purple moth-like creature with green wings and small red legs along with yellow eyes with three spots on each. This was known as a Dustox.

This seemed like an odd choice. Infernape, being a fire type, had an advantage over bug types, which Dustox was. Then again, Janette often picked what most viewed as the wrong Pokemon for these battles and always seemed to win no matter what. Jacob needed to be careful.

Let alone that fact, Infernape wasn't looking so well. After that Thunder Fang, she didn't look like she had much in her.

"Infernape, do you think you can still fight?" Jacob asked as the monkey turned to him and sighed, the boy smiling and returning her saying, "I'll save you for later."

That said, the boy sent in the next best thing. Why not fight a bug type with another bug type? As such, Heracross was the Pokemon to replace Infernape.

Johnathan simply grinned at the sight of this, but that could have just been due to that look of his being permanent. But aside from that, Janette was fairly impressed as well.

The battle started up with Dustox flapping her wings with incredible strength, strong winds emanating from them. This was known as Gust, and as Heracross had a bigger weakness to flying type moves than Dustox did, this would not end well.

The Hercules Beetle took the gust hard to the face as Jacob shouted, "TRY AND RESIST!!!" while the beetle opened up his shell, revealing his wings and trying to fly through the gust of wind. However, the wind proved to be too powerful as the Hercules lost control and flew fast and hard into the wall, a crack starting to form.

Jacob's eyes went wide as the boy asked, "Are you okay?" while Heracross shook his head and gave the boy thumbs up with a grin. However, when he tried to get up, a pain filled his body as he knelt down on one knee, breathing heavily.

"This is bad," Izy said with a look of concern, "Even though he's beaten two of her Pokemon, Jacob's chances aren't looking very good."

However, Anna had a smile on her face as she said, "Well, I think he may just win this after all, but I can't be too certain."

Heracross did all he could to ignore the pain, but while the beetle attempted to get back to his feet, Dustox soared towards him with a fire in his eyes. The moth was only moments away from striking her target when Heracross finally shook off the pain, a grimace forming as his horn glowed, the beetle swinging it at his pray and hitting Dustox hard in the face, the moth flying toward the other side of the arena, seeming to be unconscious despite having no weakness to an attack like Megahorn.

However, it didn't end there. Jacob's eyes sparkled as he shouted, "Finish her off with Aerial Ace!" the Hercules beetle nodding while flying towards Dustox, his body ramming hard into hers while he forced her up against the wall, his horn still touching the moth's chest.

All was silent as Dustox coughed up a bit of blood, some of it drenching Heracross' horn, Heracross removing it while the moth slid down the wall and fell to the ground, unconscious.

The crowd broke out into heavy cheering while Janette chuckled, returning her Dustox and saying, "That was truly amazing, Jacob. Your Heracross is very well trained."

Heracross blushed while rubbing the back of his head as Johnathan laughed and said, "That boy's still got it!"

Izy sighed with relief with a smile on her face saying, "It looks like he may just win this after all. I think your prediction may be right, Anna."

Anna's eyes went wide as her look of shock soon turned into a smile. Who knows? Maybe her intuition had returned.

However, this battle was far from over. Jacob may have beaten three of Janette's Pokemon, but one had to remember, the rules clearly stated that each trainer had to use all six partners for this battle. Jacob had done quite well, but there was a problem. Both Heracross and Infernape were badly injured from their battles, and he knew that he would have to use them again at some point. But now was not a time to worry about that. He needed to stay focused.

Janette smiled and said, "You've been a fantastic opponent so far, but let's see how you deal with this," the girl throwing a ball into the arena as a large creature appeared, everyone's eyes going wide.

"Is that what I think it is?" Moro asked as even Nurse Boredom's eyes were wide with shock, the professor snickering briefly at the sight of the nurse finally showing some enthusiasm.

"I didn't think those existed," Donavan said as Jenna's eyes sparkled, the woman saying, "I knew they were real."

An uproar started in the crowd while the gym leaders started taking photos while Aragon bit his lip sniffing, "I've always wanted one of those! This is so unfair!"

Izy's eyes sparkled, which was a rare sight from her, the girl saying, "They are real! I can't believe my eyes!"

Anna's eyes were also sparkling, but that was normal for her. Meanwhile, Harold's body was trembling as he groaned, "Oh god, all my nightmares are coming true! They actually exist!"

Perona stroked her chin with an intrigued look as she said, "Very interesting. I thought they were wiped out."

Jacob's eyes went wide as he asked, "Is that really a..." while Roxanne looked back and forth asking, "What's the big deal? That thing's not cute in the slightest."

Everyone else in the crowd including Jacob glared at the girl shouting, "WHAT ROCK HAVE YOU BEEN UNDER YOUR WHOLE LIFE!!!!!!??"

The Pokemon Janette had chosen was a large winged lizard with gray flesh. This was a dinosaur known as Aerodactyl.

"How did you get a Pokemon that's supposed to be extinct?" Jacob asked while the audience listened with much interest, the girl chuckling and saying, "He was my first Pokemon. My dad dug up an old fossil of him and brought him to life."

Everyone nodded in response to this. The story did check out. However, there was just one problem. Who would Jacob use against such a fearsome beast? Sure, Heracross could fly, but in his condition, he really wouldn't have stood much of a chance. However, the boy didn't seem to have much of a choice.

"Heracross, how are you holding up?" he asked as the beetle gave the boy thumbs up, Jacob letting out a sigh and saying, "Alright, go in there and show that dinosaur who's boss!"

Heracross soared towards the large dinosaur as Aerodactyl soared downward towards the beetle, his wings set up for a Wing Attack. This didn't look promising at all, but then Jacob realized something. Heracross was much smaller than Aerodactyl. While that may have seemed like a bad thing, to the best of the boy's knowledge, this may have been good enough to help.

"HERACROSS, DODGE HIS ATTACK AND HIT HIM IN THE BACK!!!!" the boy shouted as Heracross grinned, stopping his Aerial Ace to fly over Aerodactyl's head, the pterodactyl flying too quickly to respond as the beetle delivered a fierce Night Slash to his back, the dinosaur crying in pain.

His back was now bleeding, however, it was only a small bit of blood as Aerodactyl turned toward Heracross. Seeing the beast's face so close to his made Heracross start to tremble. He was more scared than ever before.

"Heracross, do something!" Jacob shouted, but the beetle was unable to do a thing as Aerodactyl opened his mouth, unleashing a Hyper Beam, which sent Heracross flying into the wall, the beetle now out cold.

Jacob sighed and returned the bug to his ball saying, "Don't worry about it. You did the best you could."

That didn't change the fact that Jacob was in trouble now. Janette now had the upper hand against him. What was he to do?

Just as it all seemed hopeless, the answer suddenly came to him. Aerodactyl was weak against water type attacks. The boy now knew just who to use as he whipped out a Pokeball sending Floatzel into the battle.

"Why would he use Floatzel?" Izy asked as Harold trembled saying, "He must be desperate for ideas."

Anna shook her head and explained, "Aerodactyl is not only a flying type but also a rock type. That means water attacks are the best to use against him."

Roxanne's eyes went wide as they started to sparkle, the girl shouting, "OH MY GOD!!!! I SHOULD HAVE GOTTEN MYSELF A FLOATZEL!!! THAT'S SO CUTE!!!!"

Aerodactyl seemed unfazed as he soared towards the weasel, Jacob shouting, "Don't be intimidated, Floatzel! Roll to the side and hit him with Water Gun!"

Floatzel nodded her head and rolled out of the way just in time to avoid Aerodactyl's Wing Attack, however, the wind emanating from him causes Floatzel to roll into a wall. Nevertheless, the weasel shook the pain off, opening her mouth as a blast of water soared towards the pterodactyl, the dinosaur crying in pain while the water hit his back.

Not only had the water done that, it also splashed a little, a bit of it getting on Aerodactyl's wings. As such, the dinosaur was too busy trying to shake off the water to notice another Water Gun, this time hitting him in the back of the head as he fell to the ground, his eyes swirling.

Everyone in the crowd cheered at the sight of this as Floatzel posed for the women in the crowd. This was truly a sight to behold. The idea that such a tiny creature could defeat a dinosaur Pokemon so easily was truly astounding.

"Way to go, Floatzel!" Jacob shouted with a grin, "I'm very proud of you!"

Janette returned her dinosaur and smiled saying, "You truly amaze me, Jacob, but I doubt you can beat this next one."

The crowd gasped when a large tortoise exited the next Pokeball. This tortoise was green with a tree growing out of one half of its shell, jagged rocks coming out of the other. This was Torterra.

Roxanne had a worried look as she said, "I don't know who to route for. I love Torterra, but I also like Jacob."

Jacob was also a bit worried. The only Pokemon he had with an advantage over Torterra was Infernape, and she was weak after her battle. Perhaps his best bet would be the weaken the tortoise first, so he simply looked at Floatzel who nodded back at him with a grin. As such, the boy decided to allow the weasel to continue fighting, but it was risky. After all, grass types had an advantage over water types.


	55. Chapter 55

Pokemon Quest

Torterra let out a fierce roar as the battle began. Jacob needed to think carefully about this. Torterra was a powerful adversary and with Floatzel weak against his attacks, this battle was going to be tough. However, there was also a big flaw Torterra had. The tortoise was slow, really slow. He was one of the few Pokemon out there that became drastically slower every time he evolved.

"Floatzel, hit him with Sonicboom!" the boy shouted as Floatzel nodded and performing a front flip, her tails unleashing a mass amount of energy. The energy soared fast and hard into Torterra's face, but much to Jacob's dismay, the tortoise remained with the same facial expression as if the attack had done nothing.

Izy looked at this with concern and thought, 'I really hope he knows what he's doing.'

Torterra let out a deafening roar as the leaves atop the tree on his back started to rustle much like they were blowing in the wind. After only a couple of seconds, leaves started to fly from the branches, each being replaced by a new one in less than one second. Floatzel did all she could to dodge the incoming projectiles but in the end there were too many.

Floatzel cried out in pain as the Razor Leaf attack started to put small cuts all over her body. Blood was dripping everywhere as the weasel fell to her knees and started to breathe heavily.

"Floatzel, are you okay!?" Jacob spat with his eyes wide open.

Floatzel's body started to twitch as she gritted her teeth, doing her best to stay on her feet. It looked like she was going to pass out... and yet she continued to stand. After a few more seconds she managed to fight through the pain before turning to her master and holding her thumb up for him to see.

Jacob let out a sigh of relief and asked, "Are you still willing to battle?" as Floatzel nodded, a look of confidence on her face. It would take a lot more than sharp leaves to get this weasel to give up.

Janette smiled at the sight of this and said, "That Floatzel of yours is very strong. You've clearly trained her well," while Floatzel blushed, rubbing the back of her head.

The crowd cheered as Moro's eyes went wide, the professor shouting, "Did you see that!? Even with all that pain, that wonderful Floatzel can still fight!"

Nurse Boredom simply glanced over at the professor before saying, "You're making it even harder for me to sleep, you know that?" Moro grumbling curses under his breath.

But there was one problem that still remained. What could Floatzel use against Torterra that would work? Then Jacob remembered something very important: Torterra was weak against ice, even more than he was against fire.

"That's it!" the boy shouted with a look of confidence on his face, "Floatzel, hit him with Ice Fang!"

The weasel's eyes sparkled as she charged towards the tortoise. But, of course, Torterra would not let the weasel get that close to him. As such, he slammed his foot hard against the ground as the entire arena started to quake. Even the bleachers were vibrating while the audience members did their best to stay in their seats. Even Jacob and Janette had a bit of trouble standing after that.

"Next time, could you make Torterra use a less effective technique?" Jacob requested as Janette chuckled and replied, "I'll consider it."

But much to everyone's shock, Floatzel wasn't even on the ground. The crowd's eyes were wide when they noticed a weasel high above the arena floor as she dove downward, ramming hard into the Torterra's skull and sinking her fangs into it, a cold mist emanating from them.

Torterra cried in pain as Floatzel held on tight. The tortoise did all he could to get the weasel off of him until he ultimately gave up and started shaking his head around. A few more seconds would surely do him in.

"WAY TO GO, FLOATZEL!!!!!" Jacob shouted while Izy and Anna cheered, Harold speechless at this sight.

"That's more like it!" Jenna spat as Donavan threw his fist forward shouting, "That's the Jacob we know!"

Roxanne cringed at the sight of this saying, "As much as I want Jacob to win, I can't stand to see a Torterra in so much pain."

However, mere seconds before the tortoise was about to give up, five of Floatzel's wounds opened up as the weasel cried in pain, releasing her fangs from Torterra's skull. The weasel fell in front of the tortoise on her back and started rolling around as Torterra opened his mouth, a green energy flowing from the weasel's body into his mouth.

Jacob's eyes went wide at the sight of this as he thought, 'No!'

He had all the reason to worry. This attack was known as Giga Drain and not only was it a fairly powerful move, but it absorbed an opponent's vitality. This meant Floatzel's remaining energy was being used to remove some of the damage previously dealt by the Ice Fang.

And that was it. Floatzel lay on the ground motionless and Torterra's victory over the weasel was official. To make matters worse, half his strength had returned to him.

"He was so close..." Izy said before lowering her head and letting out a disappointed groan, Anna smiling and saying, "It's not over yet. He still has two other Pokemon."

Jacob let out a disappointed sigh, returning his Floatzel to her ball and said, "You did an excellent job out there," as he pulled out another ball and sighed, "I guess you'll have to do."

Lucario pulled on the boy's leg as the boy smiled and shook his head saying, "Sorry, but I'm saving you for last."

That said, the boy released his Pokeball summoning Infernape. Unfortunately, her shoulder was still bleeding and she hadn't regained all of her energy. But she was in good enough condition to keep fighting.

"Infernape, I'm counting on you," Jacob said as the monkey grinned, nodding her head.

Now he had more of an advantage. Infernape was strong against Torterra. The only downside was that she'd previously taken in a lot of damage. But Jacob had confidence in the monkey and he wasn't going to lose now, not after coming this far.

"Infernape," the boy commanded, "start things off with Fire Spin!"

Before Torterra could even respond, Infernape surrounded the tortoise in a ring of fire. Torterra's eyes, for the first time, had a worried look to them as the monkey proceeded to shoot a series of small flames for an Ember Attack.

Janette had to admit, she was a bit worried. Normally, she could trust her Pokemon to function fine without her guidance, but at this moment, Torterra had no idea what to do.

While the tortoise was distracted, Infernape rolled up into a ball, flames surrounding her body for a Flame Wheel. She then proceeded toward her opponent. When the Flame Wheel touched the flames, it absorbed that particular section of the ring thus growing bigger in size before ramming hard into Torterra's face.

Izy rose her fist into the air and shouted, "NOW THAT'S WHAT I'M TALKING ABOUT!!!!"

Roxanne covered her eyes in response to this. Sure, she was happy to see Jacob winning, but to see a Torterra being tormented like that was painful for her.

Perona simply chuckled and thought, 'Now why couldn't have have been that good when he fought me?'

Moro let down tears of joy and cried, "It just means so much that-"

"He's doing that with the Pokemon you gave him," Nurse Boredom remarked while rolling her eyes and adding, "Stop saying that, please!"

Moro grimaced and folded his arms muttering, "Killjoy..." while the nurse let out a yawn.

The tortoise cried in pain as Infernape set up her fist for a Mach Punch. But as the fist headed towards Torterra's jaw, the tortoise opened his mouth wide before closing it in one the monkey's hand, silence filling the stands.

No one could believe what they were seeing. Even Janette was amazed. In a last minute attempt, Torterra had actually bitten into Infernape's hand. To make matters worse, he proceeded to shift his head upwards, releasing the monkey as she flew into the air. Torterra then proceeded to unleash a mighty Leaf Storm, Infernape unable to dodge as her body was now covered with cuts.

The monkey descended towards the ground, her blood flying into the air as she descended. As she fell face-first into the ground, her blood started to rain down on her while Jacob just stared in shock with his eyes wide open.

She had come so close to beating Torterra, and yet Infernape had lost in the end. Jacob sighed and returned her to her ball and said, "You did an amazing job," before turning to Lucario and saying, "Alright, buddy, you're up."

The infant stood tall and proud as Izy bit her lip. She was now worried. Jacob was down to his last Pokemon and that Torterra seemed unstoppable.

Anna had a neutral look on while Harold bit his fingernails. Everyone else in the crowd was starting to doubt the boy's chances now. However, Jenna, Donavan and the gym leaders had not yet lost hope. They knew Jacob. He had gotten out of far worst situations than this before. Surely, this Torterra could be beaten.

"Get him with the best thing you can," Jacob said as Lucario nodded, charging towards the tortoise. However, Torterra was not going to simply let his opponent hit him. As such, he unleashed an onslaught of Razor Leaves towards the incoming dog-like creature.

Lucario saw this coming and whipped out a series of bones, hurling them at the leaves and causing them to fall to the ground on contact. Torterra grimaced and let out a deafening roar before slamming his foot hard into the ground, but just like Floatzel, he simply leapt into the air and dodged the incoming Earthquake.

Torterra attempted to hit the infant with another Razor Leaf attack, but just like before, Lucario was prepared with his Bone Rush. But since he was throwing them downwards toward the tortoise this time, some of the bones landed hard on Torterra's skull after causing the leaves to fall with them.

The crowd cheered while Torterra was distracted, Lucario planting his palm hard into the tortoise's skull. Torterra groaned in pain before separating his legs out and falling to the ground, his eyes swirling. That was that. After all that trouble, Torterra had finally been defeated.

The crowd broke out into heavy cheering as Lucario ran over to Jacob, the boy embracing his partner. Janette smiled and returned her Torterra saying, "You were wonderful out there."

Izy and Anna embraced one-another, Harold once again feeling like an outcast while Donavan and Jenna gave each other a high five. Roxanne did feel sorry for the Torterra, but she applauded Lucario's victory all the same.

However, in all the excitement, they had forgotten one simple factor. The battle wasn't over yet. Janette still had one Pokemon left, and everyone knew who it was.

Janette smiled compassionately while pulling out her last Pokeball saying, "Jacob, throughout this whole battle, you have truly been the best opponent I could have ever asked for. This battle has been a lot of fun and you deserve to win this. However, I'm not going to hand you this victory, so I hope you can stand up to my pride and joy."

That said, the girl threw her Pokeball into the arena as a large bird made entirely out of metal emerged. Everyone marveled at the sight of her Scarmory. The bird let out a loud crow and glared at Lucario. This was going to be tough.

"Don't disappoint me now," Janette said as Jacob grinned with confidence saying, "Don't you worry about a thing. Lucario and I are going to beat that Scarmory of yours no matter what!"

Izy felt a bit worried right now. After all of this, Jacob couldn't lose, but what if he did? What if that Scarmory was too strong for him to handle?

No, there was no way he would lose. She knew Jacob better than that. The boy was far too determined to win, and he'd gotten out of far worse situations than this. After all, that Lucario of him defeated a Spiritomb. How could he lose to Scarmory at this point?

Anna had a smile on her face. She had confidence in the boy as well. She knew that after all of this, Jacob wouldn't go down so easily. Godly powers or not, Lucario was still Jacob's strongest Pokemon. There was no way the creature would lose to a bird, even if it was made of metal.

Donavan and Jenna simply gritted their teeth while Jenna shouted, "Anyone who's beaten me as many times as that kid has doesn't deserve to lose!" as Donavan nodded in agreement.

The gym leaders were also hoping for Jacob's victory, but they weren't allowed to show it. All in all, this was going to be a battle for the ages.

Scarmory started things off as she soared towards Lucario, her wing turning silver. Lucario grimaced and leapt towards the incoming bird, his claws becoming silver as well. Soon enough, both attacks collided with one-another, sparks flying from the arm and wing.

This could be anyone's game now. Both were fairly strong against steel-type attacks. However, Steel Wing was more powerful than Metal Claw.

Lucario gritted his teeth as his arm started to bend back. Jacob's eyes went wide as he started to tremble. He knew what this meant. Scarmory's wing had overpowered Lucario's claws. As such, Lucario was sent reeling hard into the ground, his body skidding across it as the infant groaned in pain.

Jacob had a look of concern as he asked, "Lucario, are you alright?"

Luckily for him, it would take a lot more than that to defeat Lucario. The infant slowly rose to his feet and shook off the pain as his look of confidence returned. There was no way Scarmory would beat him that easily.

Of course, Scarmory wasn't going to allow Lucario to win either. As such, he soared down towards the infant as Lucario stood his ground, Jacob with a look of confidence.

"What's he doing?" Izy asked, "Shouldn't Lucario move out of the way?"

"I think they have a plan," Anna said with a smile as Harold nodded while saying, "Of course. That must be it. There's no way Jacob would let himself lose."

Seconds before Scarmory could land a blow on Lucario, the infant leapt up into the air and landed on the bird's back. Janette smiled with admiration at the sight of this as Lucario started to throw an onslaught of punches to the back of Scarmory's head, the bird crying in pain and falling to the ground.

The crowd broke out into heavy cheering as Jacob threw his fist forward shouting, "WAY TO GO, LUCARIO!!!!! YOU'VE GOT HIM NOW!!!!"

But just as Lucario was ready to deliver more damage, Scarmory's eyes started to glow as the bird took to the skies again, dragging Lucario with her. Unfortunately, Scarmory was flying so fast now that Lucario couldn't even take advantage of this, and soon enough, Scarmory was flying too fast and Lucario ended up releasing his grip on her.

Jacob's eyes went wide as Lucario descended towards the ground. As if that wasn't bad enough, Scarmory flew downward towards Lucario and planting her wing up against the infant's chest. With that, she applied her weight to the fall thus causing Lucario to take in even more pain when his back hit the ground.

The infant coughed up a ton of blood as he lay on the ground. All was silent around the arena. Had Lucario just... lost? No, he couldn't. Not after Jacob had gotten this far.

"Lucario?" he asked as the infant remained motionless, "Are you okay?"

Scarmory returned to her master's side as Janette smiled and said, "Well, Jacob, you were an excellent opponent. You shouldn't feel too bad about losing."

However, that silence soon turned into heavy cheering when Lucario slowly shifted his arms, placing them against the ground. Then with a bend of his knees, he planted his feet firmly against the ground. The crowd went wild when the infant pushed himself back up to his feet, breathing heavily with a look of confidence in his eyes.

Jacob let down a tear as his eyes sparkled, the boy saying, "I knew you wouldn't lose that easily."

Izy and Anna hugged one-another, Harold rolling his eyes and embracing the two. Roxanne lifted her arms in the air and shouted, "GO GET HER, JACOB!!!!!"

Jenna and Donavan did a happy dance while Perona simply chuckled and said, "I knew that wouldn't be enough."

Moro let down tears of joy shouting, "THIS IS ALL SO INSPIRING!!!!" while Boredom sighed, patting the man on the back saying, "Whatever you say, professor. Whatever you say."

Jacob grinned at Lucario and asked, "So, what do you say, buddy? Do you think you can win this?"

Lucario grinned at his master and nodded. There was no way he would lose at this point.


	56. Chapter 56

Pokemon Quest

After taking in a heavy beating, Lucario continued to hold his ground against Scarmory. But could Jacob defeat Janette? He couldn't allow himself to lose, not after all he had gone through.

Lucario cupped his hands together while a blue orb formed. As he launched the Aura Sphere towards his opponent, Scarmory simply took to the skies once more, dodging the orb as it flew into a wall.

But the infant would not allow his opponent to get away that easily. With that, he opened his mouth and unleashed the shock wave known as Dragon Pulse. Scarmory dodged that as well, preparing an attack. However, she'd failed to notice that while performing Dragon Pulse, Lucario was also preparing an Aura Sphere. As such, when the infant launched it into the air, the metal bird failed to see it coming, an explosion forming on her chest while she cried out in pain.

The crowd cheered while Izy grinned shouting, "THAT'S THE WAY TO DO IT!!!!!"

Janette smiled while her Scarmory started to dive towards the ground, unable to stay in the air as a result of the Aura Sphere. The girl looked at Lucario then at Jacob saying, "You've really trained your Pokemon well. Even I didn't see that coming."

Jacob's eyes sparkled in response to that as he let down a tear saying, "Lucario, you are incredible. I didn't even tell you to do that!"

The entire stadium erupted with cheers when Scarmory dive-bombed hard into the ground, dirt flying upward and surrounding the bird before descending back to where it belonged. However, those cheers died and were replaced by gasps as the metal bird's feet started to sway back and forth, Scarmory attempting to squeeze her head out of the ground.

"Lucario, don't let her recover!" Jacob spat as the infant nodded, cupping his hands together once more. But unlike before, the aura was a lot bigger.

Jacob's eyes went wide, a grin forming on his face. He knew that Lucario was going to use Aura Storm.

Izy breathed a sigh of relief while Anna's eyes sparkled. Can you blame her? This was a rare sight. Harold, on the other hand, bit into his collar with anticipation.

Jenna and Donavan watched with anticipation, especially Jenna whose Purugly had been beaten by that move. The gym leaders were also intrigued while Perona simply smiled thinking, 'I knew he would win.'

Moro started to bite his fingernails while Boredom did her best to seem interested. Roxanne rose her arms in the air and shouted, "YAY!!!! THAT CUTE LUCARIO'S GONNA WIN!!!!!"

There was no doubt about it. The battle would certainly end after Lucario's next attack.

Scarmory struggled hard and finally pried her head out of the ground only to see a devastating beam emerge from Lucario's hands. The metal bird's eyes went wide as she braced herself for the impact. And so the attack hit, an explosion forming around Scarmory while the entire stadium was filled with heavy cheering and applause. They knew that Jacob and his Lucario had won the battle.

Jacob grinned and shouted, "WE DID IT, BUDDY!!!!" while Lucario breathed a sigh of relief, doing his best to stand. After all, that attack took a lot out of him.

Izy hugged Harold shouting, "HE DID IT!!!!! HE ACTUALLY DID IT!!!!" while Harold grinned nervously, pulling on his collar.

However, Anna didn't seem nearly as confident as the others. She still had a neutral look on her face. But why? What did that mean? And the stranger thing was that Janette was still smiling. Why would that be?

The answer became clear when the smoke started to vanish from the area. The crowd gasped at what they saw next while Jacob's eyes went wide, jaw dropping. Lucario's eyes also went wide, his heart starting to pound at an incredible rate.

Scarmory was still standing. How was that possible? After all that work, the metal bird was still able to fight. Before anyone could even respond, Scarmory let out a battle cry and soared towards Lucario with her beak out.

Jacob shook his head, snapping out of his state of shock and shouted, "LUCARIO, DODGE IT!!!! WE CAN STILL WIN!!!!" but unfortunately, Lucario was far too weak to do anything after using Aura Storm as he took a fierce Peck to the gut.

The infant coughed up a bit of blood and passed out, the entire area silent. Jacob couldn't believe his eyes. Even after all that, he'd still lost. How could this have happened? What had gone wrong?

Izy's eyes were wide open, her body twitching as she asked, "What just happened?" Harold completely speechless.

Anna let out a sigh and said, "Janette just won," as Izy remarked, "I know that, but how did she win?"

Perona was just as shocked as the others. She didn't even know what to say about this. Even the gym leaders couldn't figure this out.

Jenna and Donavan just stared with gaping jaws while Roxanne hung her head. All the while, Janette continued to smile while Jacob fell on his knees, his expression refusing to change.

Boredom looked at Moro with a small sign of interest in her expression and asked, "Hey, professor, what just happened?" the man shaking his head and saying, "Even I, a Pokemon professor, can't figure this out."

Janette simply smiled and explained, "It's quite simple, really. Moments before Lucario's attack hit, Scarmory used Endure, an attack that leaves the Pokemon with just enough strength to keep fighting even if the attack is too much for said Pokemon to handle."

Despite the explanation, everyone still had trouble believing it. However, Jacob was no longer in shock. The boy climbed back to his feet and walked towards Janette, holding out his hand and saying, "Thank you for a great battle," Janette smiling compassionately while she shook his hand.

"And on that note," Moro announced, "the winner and regional champion is Janette!!!"

Soon enough, the entire stadium erupted with cheers. Izy let down a sigh while Harold had a look of disappointment, but Anna had her usual warm smile on. Even though Jacob had lost, the boy took it well. That was good enough for her.

After the cheering died down, Jacob smiled saying, "Well, I lost, but I'm glad it was to you," as Janette replied, "If I had lost, I would have been happy knowing it was to you."

Moro let down tears shouting, "THIS IS SO BEAUTIFUL!!!!! THE DRAMA, THE EMOTION, THE FRIENDSHIP!!!! EVERYTHING ABOUT THIS BATTLE IS JUST SO... SO... MEMORABLE!!!!" as he proceeded to cry into Boredom's shoulder, the nurse letting out a sigh, rolling her eyes and unenthusiastically patting the man on the head.

"I don't care what that kid says," Aragon grunted while folding his arms, "I can't help feeling gypped."

"Hey, we all wanted him to win too," Sarah said while placing a hand on the man's shoulder, "We just didn't get the results we expected. It's not a big deal."

Aragon let out a sigh and said, "You're right. It's nothing serious..." then looking into the woman's eyes grinned, raising his eyebrows and asked, "Say, would you like to go out on a..." Sarah placing her fingers up against his mouth saying, "Not interested."

And so, the trainers went to their assigned rooms to prepare for the award ceremony. They needed to look their best for when they received their medals. However, before doing that, Jacob had his Pokemon taken to the emergency room to have their injuries healed. They had, after all, sustained a lot of damage during that battle.

Janette was walking by when she noticed Jacob sitting in front of the room. She smiled and asked, "May I have a seat?" as the boy looked up, smiled and nodded, the girl sitting next to him.

"That was really something, wasn't it?" Jacob asked as Janette placed a hand on his shoulder asking, "Are you sure you're okay? I know losing can be hard on a person."

Jacob let out a sigh and shook his head saying, "Don't worry about it. I was a little shocked at first, but I'm fine. Everyone loses sometimes, right?"

Janette nodded and said, "You were a fantastic opponent, Jacob. You were very close to winning."

She then got up and headed to her room saying, "You also have a very good set of friends," leaving the area for good.

The girl was right. Jacob did have good friends. He was very happy to have them.

While he sat, his eyes turned to the right as he noticed Izy approaching him, the boy signaling her to come over. The girl let out a sigh and sat next to him, a look of concern.

Jacob noticed her expression and placed a hand on her shoulder saying, "Don't worry about me, Izy. I'm fine. I'm just glad to have made it this far."

"Well, that's good," Izy said with a smile, that smile soon returning to a concerned expression as she asked, "Do you like Janette?"

Jacob stared at the girl, eyes wide and blinking. What an odd question to ask. But it was a fair question all the same.

"Yes, she's a good friend," Jacob replied as Izy breathed a sigh of relief. She still had her chance.

"What are you going to do now that the tournament's over?" the girl asked as Jacob placed his hand against his chin saying, "I guess I'll return home. After all, it's not like I have anything else I can do now."

Upon hearing this, Izy's eyes went wide as a small tear dropped down her face. She had completely forgotten that after the tournament, she wouldn't be able to see the boy again. He and his friends had to go their separate ways now.

The girl looked over at him, eyes darting back and forth as she held the boy in a tight embrace shouting, "I'M GONNA MISS YOU!!!!" Jacob's eyes nearly popping out of their sockets as he smiled nervously, patting the girl on the back. While Izy held the boy tightly, she smiled and said, "If you tell anyone about this, I will kill you."

Jacob blinked as the embrace ended and asked, "Really?" as Izy started to snicker, the two soon laughing.

"Well, I guess this is goodbye," Jacob said as Izy nodded saying, "I'll miss you, buddy."

Then the two just sat and waited for Jacob's Pokemon to be healed. The award ceremony wasn't for another hour, anyway. They had plenty of time.

And soon enough, the ceremony came. After a long-winded and boring speech, Moro handed the medals out. Since Sampson, who was originally to be placed in third due to his superior show of skill, had been put behind bars, Janette's semi-finals opponent, Heather, had received the bronze medal along with a cash prize of 60,000,000 yen. When Jacob had the silver medal placed around his neck, he stood tall and proud. Besides, a prize of 80,000,000 yen certainly wasn't bad.

Handing out the gold medal was Kevin, who placed it around Janette's neck whispering to her, "Now, you take good care of that medal," the girl nodding and bowing to the man.

Moments before she was given her 100,000,000 yen cash prize, she looked over at the crowd of people watching and pointed at Harold saying, "I wish for you to give my prize to that boy over there."

The officials looked at each other with confused looks, but shrugged and decided to accept it. If that's what she wanted, that's what she would get.

Harold's jaw dropped when the money was given to him, the boy biting his lip and letting down tears crying, "THANK YOU, JANETTE!!!!! THIS MEANS SO MUCH TO ME!!!!!!!"

Izy had no idea what the girl's motive was, but she was happy all the same that Harold could pay for his mother's operation.

And when the award ceremony was over, everyone left the stadium to head home. However, Jacob was not ready to leave the city just yet. He had to stay behind at least for a while longer to say goodbye to his friends.

He said his goodbyes to the gym leaders, all talking about how it was nice to see him again. However, they couldn't stay very long. They needed to return to their gyms. Perona and the Elite Four needed to return to their headquarters. They had no time to chat with anyone.

Jacob said a quick goodbye to Harold who spoke of how he was going to show off the money to his Manfred and save his mother from the hand of death. He also promised to become a much better trainer and to beat Jacob in battle one day.

Roxanne ran out of the stadium, giving Jacob a big hug while the boy did all he could to endure it. He didn't want to be rude, after all, even if he couldn't stand her presence. During all of that, Lucario was holding onto Izy's leg for safety. Jacob's was currently in a danger zone, after all.

Moro also said his goodbyes, explaining how he and Nurse Boredom were going to stay behind. The two were in charge of repairing any damages dealt to the stadium during the tournament, and sadly, Jacob and Janette's battle had done the most damage.

As he and the nurse entered the building, the man turned to Boredom and asked, "Hey, Boredom, can I have a word with you?"

The nurse rolled her eyes and said in a snide tone, "Look, I'm sorry I don't get as excited about battles as you do!"

"No, it's not about that," Moro replied as he placed a hand on her shoulder, "This is going to come as a shock to you, and trust me, I still can't believe it."

"Oh no, you're not going to quit being a professor, are you?" the girl asked as Moro's eyes went wide, the man saying, "Let's not get hasty here."

Much to the man's surprise, the nurse actually chuckled after he said that. The man then remembered where he was going with this and said, "Look, during these last few weeks, I've developed a strange attraction towards you."

Boredom's eyes, for the first time, actually went wide as she stared at the man, Moro rubbing the back of his neck saying, "I don't understand it either. You're everything I'm not. You're mellow, you're careless, you're unenthusiastic... and yet you're the love of my life."

Boredom's look of shock soon turned to a smile as she said in a mellow-sounding voice, "Well, professor, you are pretty cute. How's about the two of us have a coffee later? You're buying."

Moro's eyes narrowed at the sound of that last part, but the man shrugged and said, "It's a date."

Now was the hardest thing about this day. Jacob had to say goodbye to his two best friends in the world. This was going to hurt, but most goodbyes did.

Anna embraced the boy and shouted, "PLEASE REMEMBER TO WRITE!!!!!" as Jacob patted her back saying, "Don't worry. We live close to each other anyway. I could visit every now and then if you'd like."

Anna's eyes sparkled as the girl said, "That would be great."

Izy then walked over to him as Anna walked off, saying she was going flower shopping. But, of course, she really just wanted Jacob and Izy to have one last bit of alone time.

Izy was silent for a few seconds before holding Jacob tightly in one last hug, this one lighter than the previous one. She smiled and said, "Jacob, you're the best friend anyone could ever have."

The boy let down a tear and said, "You know, goodbyes aren't always forever. I'm sure that someday, we'll meet again, maybe have another adventure."

With all said and done, it was time to return home. Jacob boarded the plane and waved goodbye to his friends, Izy letting down tears while Anna patted her on the shoulder.

"Why didn't you tell him?" she asked as Izy sighed, "I didn't want to put pressure on him. If I'd told him my feelings, he'd only feel worse about leaving."

Jacob returned home and had barely opened the door when his mother had him in her arms, eyes full of tears. His mom had allowed him to keep the Pokemon he'd caught during his travels. They were officially members of the family now.

Many citizens welcomed Jacob back to the village, many wanting now to be his friend after seeing his battles on TV. Lucario also earned himself quite the fanclub, and unlike the old Lucario, he liked it.

Anna had been accepted by her sister as a replacement gym leader for when Sarah was off duty. Of course, Anna needed to be reminded a few times not to choose the Pokemon her father had given her. It would have made things a little too unfair for the challengers.

A week after the events of the tournament, Jacob's mom decided to take him and Lucario to Rowerberg so they could spend some quality time with Anna. After all, it was the start of summer. They needed to do something.

However, upon opening the door, Jacob felt something knock on his head twice. That something was actually a young girl's fist reaching to knock on the door. The girl blinked and said, "Sorry, Jacob."

The boy opened his eyes as they went wide. The girl who'd done that was Anna.

"Anna?" he asked, "Why are you here?"

The girl smiled and said, "Let's just say a familiar friend dropped by and suggest a visit."

Anna stepped to the side as Jacob's eyes went even wider. Izy was standing right there as he raced towards the girl, embracing her in a hug.

"WHAT ARE YOU GUYS DOING HERE!?" he asked with excitement as Izy smiled saying, "We came with a proposition for you."

Jacob blinked as the girl pulled out a poster from a backpack she'd brought with her. Jacob's jaw dropped when he saw the contents. The poster was an advertizement for another Pokemon Challenge in another region.

"I was thinking that if you can't be the champion of this region, maybe you can be the champion of another," Izy said with a grin as Jacob turned to his mother who nodded her head saying, "I'm not going to stop you this time. Do what you want."

And that was that. Jacob was off on the road again with his two best friends, taking a boat to another region to start a new adventure. And of course he brought his faithful partners with him. It wouldn't have been the same without them.

Izy still didn't have the courage to admit to her feelings, but she planned to some day, and now she had a lot more time to prepare herself. What challenges awaited them? What kinds of Pokemon would they find? They just had to wait and find out.

Author's note: Yes, this is the end of the story.


End file.
